Air Canada says it will reduce capacity to Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona as the U.S.-Canada tariff dispute simmers and the Canadian dollar continues to struggle. And WestJet might be next in line.
Speaking on a conference call to discuss Air Canada’s fourth quarter and yearly earnings for 2024, Mark Galardo, Executive Vice President, Revenue & Network Planning and President, Cargo, said it’s too early to know how Canadian currency issues and the U.S.-Canada tariff dispute will play out. But he said Air Canada will be reducing capacity to such U.S. destinations as Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona beginning in March.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much capacity will be taken off the market, but it’s a huge change for Air Canada, and the strongest signal yet that Canadians are truly angry at how the U.S. government has been treating its neighbour to the north.
WestJet’s chief executive officer, Alexis von Hoensbroech, says interest in flying to the U.S. has dropped 25% in recent weeks. He didn’t say the Calgary-based company would match Air Canada by reducing capacity, but he suggested that changes might be needed.
Las Vegas. Zalman Grossbaum-unsplash photo
“We are watching and we don’t know how sustainable this is,” Von Hoensbroech said at a press conference on Feb. 13. “If we feel we need to adjust our schedule, then we will.”
WestJet said demand for travel to the United States has been “soft” over the last few weeks since a possible trade war started brewing between Canada and its biggest trading partner.
“What we have seen though, since the tariff announcements, is that our sales from Canada into the U.S. have actually dropped very significantly,” von Hoensbroech said, adding that the exchange rate likely has something do with the falling demand as well.
A Leger poll taken Jan. 31 to Feb. 3 found that 48% of Canadians are less likely to visit the U.S. this year, compared to last year. That’s up significantly from a mid-January Narrative poll that found 29% of Canadians were less like to visit the States this year.
The National Post reports that another Leger poll, this one take Feb. 7 to 10, found that a full 56% said they’re ready to cancel or avoid travel to the U.S.
