One of the two airlines offering direct sa国际传媒 to Seattle flights has scaled back its service as the number of Canadians planning trips to the U.S. plummets.聽
WestJet has cut its sa国际传媒-Seattle flights from daily to three days a week.
鈥淭hey reduced it a few weeks ago and advised us that the point-of-sale out of Canada to the U.S. has dropped off drastically,鈥 sa国际传媒 International Airport manager Sam Samaddar told The sa国际传媒 Courier.聽
Daily sa国际传媒 to Seattle service on Alaska Airlines is 鈥渟tatus quo for now鈥, Samaddar said.聽
WestJet has also ended its direct sa国际传媒-Las Vegas seasonal聽flights earlier than planned because of lower-than-expected demand, Samaddar said.聽
sa国际传媒 to Seattle flights were a casualty of the pandemic a few years ago. Alaska Airlines resumed its service in mid-December, and Westjetsa国际传媒 flights to Seattle in mid-January.聽
Across Canada, the number of Canadians interested in flying to the U.S. is in steep decline owing to the continental trade war now underway between the two countries.聽
Passenger bookings on Canada-U.S. flights have dropped by more than 70 per cent in every month through to October, according to forward-looking flight data released by OAG Aviation Worldwide, a travel monitor.聽
In March 2024, there were 1.2 million flights between Canada and the U.S. booked for the following month. But less than 300,000 such flights have been booked for April 2025, OAG said.
鈥淭his sharp drop suggests that travellers are holding off on making reservations, likely due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding the broader trade dispute,鈥 John Grant of OAG Aviation Worldwide said in a blog post last week.
Representatives of WestJet and AirCanada have issued statements in recent days saying their forward-looking bookings to the U.S. are not down 70 per cent, but the statements did not indicate exactly what the drop-off has been.聽
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed steep tariffs on goods coming into that country from Canada and other nations. Hesa国际传媒 also been repeatedly raising the idea of Canada becoming the U.S.sa国际传媒 51st state.聽
In late February, a survey released by Abacus Data showed 56 per cent of Canadians who initially planned to visit the U.S. in 2025 had either cancelled their trip or made other plans.聽
