Air Canada Just Axed 5 US Routes: See Full List Now

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Jan Weeks | Shutterstock, Simple Flying

James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough University and Cranfield University, James has a PhD in Airline Strategy and Economics. James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. He taught airline strategy and economics to undergraduate and postgraduate students for five years and has worked closely with multiple carriers on route and market intelligence projects. He is based near London, UK.

It will not surprise you that Air Canada has by far the most flights between its homeland and the United States. In November 2026, Cirium schedule data shows that the Star Alliance member has 160 daily departures. Come next May, for example, as the weather warms up, there will be 215 daily outbound services.

Despite the tension between Canada and the US, Air Canada has scheduled 3% more transborder flights in November than in the same winter month in 2025. However, when all airlines are considered, 1% fewer departures will exist. Air Canada's growth and the overall market contraction pushes its share up from 40% to 42% in one year.

Five US Routes Have Been Canceled For 2027

Looking ahead to next year shows that Air Canada has ended the following five routes. They are all from Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL), Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport (YTZ), Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), and Vancouver International Airport(YVR).

Until the latest schedule update, all the following markets had flights down for next year, but they have been removed and are no longer bookable. Most of them were served relatively briefly, with three routes only taking off in 2025 or 2026.

The leisure-focused nature of some of the markets and the increased fuel price did not help. Two of the routes were transcontinental offerings from YVR, with higher operating expenses. They were perhaps especially susceptible to removal, especially as the fares and yields were probably not overly good.

It appears that Air Canada will now pull out of Charleston International Airport (CHS), South Carolina, having only launched flights there in 2024. There will be more on that later in the article. The removal of this US city comes as the carrier recently confirmed that it would be returning to Louisville, having last flown to the city a quarter of a century ago. Flights will operate from YYZ. It also comes as Air Canada reveals two new US routes: Edmonton International Airport (YEG) to Newark and YUL to Indianapolis.

Air Canada Made Big Cuts To Its Vancouver-Raleigh/Durham Route

Air Canada introduced service from YVR to the fast-growing Raleigh/Durham International Airport (RDU) on June 4, 2025. Significantly, it marked the first time the airport pair ever had nonstop flights. Covering 2,089 nautical miles (3,869 km) each way, the 169-seat 737 MAX 8 was entirely used in 2025. In that year, the route was served through September.

Things were radically different in 2026, which was, of course, a big hint about the performance. Flights were available between May and July 2026, with the 137-seat A220-300 coexisting with the MAX. Departures fell by 27% year-over-year, while seats for sale reduced by 34%.

Rather than just cutting the link, Air Canada was right-sizing its offering to the demand, past performance, and forward bookings. Despite the substantial reduction in capacity, data from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that the load factor only jumped from 66.4% in 2025 to 69.6% in 2026. Even the peak month of July 2026 was not great (76.0%). While fare and yield data are unknown, the route was clearly poor-performing.

Air Canada Is Pulling Out Of South Carolina

Canada's largest airline did not last long in South Carolina. The carrier's first service took place on March 28, 2024, with fewer flights in 2025 and even fewer in 2026. In the first year, 200 departures and 15,200 outbound seats were available from YYZ, reduced to just 92 departures and 6,992 outbound seats in the final year.

Between March 2024 and July 2026, DOT data shows that 66.5% of seats were filled. A load factor of 67.8% was achieved in the first year, reduced to 62.1% (!) in 2025, despite fewer flights and less capacity. It rose to 67.5% through July 2026, but clearly all the results were very poor. No month exceeded 70.0%. It was perhaps predictable that the route would cease, with no service scheduled for 2027.