Canadian airlines reduce U.S. capacity by nearly 10% for Q1: report

Declining Canadian sentiment toward the U.S. has significantly influenced traveller behaviour – and a new capacity study that reviews Canadian airlines reflects the trend.

According to a report from OAG, a global travel data provider, Canadian airlines have reduced their U.S.-bound capacity by nearly 10 per cent for Q1 2026, representing 450,000 seats.

In U.S.-bound capacity, year-on-year, this equates to nearly 5,000 fewer seats each day, the report points out.

The company breaks down the cuts by airline: WestJet has reduced its U.S. capacity by 19 per cent and Air Canada by seven per cent, the report says. 

Flair Airlines has made the most significant change, with a 58 per cent decrease in its U.S.-bound capacity.

Markets heavily reliant on leisure travel have been hit hardest by capacity reductions, such as Las Vegas (about 82,000 fewer seats) and Orlando (down nearly 79,000 seats

Major hub airports such as Newark, Atlanta, and Los Angeles also rank among the top ten for capacity losses.

Destinations like Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Myers are also likely to face significant economic impacts from the drop in Canadian demand, OAG reports, and in the short term, replacing this lost capacity with alternative sources could be difficult.

Canada’s domestic capacity, meanwhile, has grown by three per cent year-over-year, with 12.4 million seats this quarter—accounting for 54 per cent of total capacity—served on domestic routes.

Flair has expanded its domestic capacity by more than a third, with notable growth at Toronto Pearson (up 64 per cent) and Calgary (nearly double the previous capacity)

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