Rising fuel costs cancel flights in Atlantic Canada; WestJet delays Medellin

Flight cancellations brought on by the rising cost of jet fuel continue.

In Moncton, New Brunswick, Courtney Burns, the CEO of the Greater Moncton International Airport Authority, recently told CBC News that WestJet, which flies daily from Moncton to Calgary, will be cutting a total of six flights in June.

Passengers have already been notified of the changes, she said.

Regional carrier PAL Airlines is also scaling back. Burns said PAL flies from Moncton to Deer Lake, N.L., onto St. John’s six times a week, but will reduce one of those flights in June.

PAL also flies five times a week to Mont-Joli, Que., onto Wabush, N.L., but one of those weekly flights will also be removed, she said.

“[The airlines] ultimately do want to get you to where you've booked and in a timely manner, but if they can get out in front of that in advance,” she told CBC. “It's not, you know, tonight at midnight, you're finding out, ‘oh, tomorrow we're pulling it because of fuel costs. They're looking at six or eight weeks in this case.”

The Strait of Hormuz has remained largely shut since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran at the end of February.

Oil tankers have been unable to pass through the strategic waterway, sending jet fuel prices soaring to more than double their previous levels.

As previously reported, WestJet cut its capacity by about one per cent in April, three per cent in May and will slash 5.5 per cent in June as it works to manage rising expenses and align flying with demand.

In a statement to PAX, WestJet said most of the impact is on domestic routes, "with minimal impact to our operations in the United States and to sun destinations."

One international route that has so far been impacted is WestJet’s planned Toronto-Medellin service for 2026.

As noted on Aeroroutes, the new route, initially scheduled from April 28 to October 24, 2026, has been shortened to the period of June 25 to September 5.

Airlines slim down

Last week, Air Canada revealed that it will end four seasonal U.S routes early this summer because of rising fuel costs.

The affected routes are Toronto to Sacramento (last flight August 1), Vancouver to Raleigh (last flight July 29), Toronto to Charleston (last flight Sept. 6). and Montreal to Austin (last flight Sept. 7).

As previously reported, the airline is also temporarily halting flights from Toronto and Montreal to John F. Kennedy International Airport from June 1 through Oct. 25.

The carrier is also suspending its Toronto–Salt Lake City as of June 30, with plans to potentially restart it next year.

On the international front, the carrier has cancelled its planned new nonstop service from Montreal to Guadalajara, which had been scheduled to launch on June 2.

The airline’s seasonal Montreal – Algiers route for the summer 2026 season has also been suspended.

Air Transat has also reduced planned capacity by six per cent from May to October, with the extended suspension of its Cuba service through October accounting for most of that reduction.

Now a “known event”

Manulife, last week, announced that global jet fuel shortages are now treated as a “known event” under its Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance policies.

According to a Manulife advisory, travellers who buy coverage on or after May 5, 2026, will not be eligible for benefits if their trip is affected by related disruptions, since “benefits would not apply due to the current situation being a known event.”

Customers who purchased coverage before May 5 may still qualify for assistance through “misconnection or disruption benefits” if “the current situation causes a delay or disruption to an insured’s return home.”

The company also stated that if an insured trip is cancelled or interrupted on or after May 5, “benefits related to this current situation would not apply, as it is now considered a known event.”

Manulife already applies similar restrictions to travel involving the Middle East and Cuba. The Middle East was designated a “known event” on Feb. 28, 2026, while Cuba received the same designation on Feb. 10, 2026.

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