Air Canada has announced a temporary suspension of flights from Toronto and Montreal to New York’s John F Kennedy airport, citing rising fuel prices. The move comes amid growing concerns that airlines worldwide may scale back services as aviation fuel costs climb following the US and Israel’s war with Iran, which entered a fragile ceasefire earlier in April.
The airline said flights from two of Canada’s major cities will be paused starting 1 June, with service expected to resume on 25 October. The affected routes include one flight from Montreal and three from Toronto, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported, citing an Air Canada spokesperson.
Separately, Spirit Airlines has asked the US federal government for hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency funding to offset a surge in fuel costs, the Air Current industry website reported, citing unnamed sources. Spirit did not immediately return a request for comment.
Other temporary suspensions from Air Canada include a Salt Lake City-Toronto route, which will be halted from 30 June onwards with plans to resume in 2027, as well as a delay to the launch of a service from Guadalajara, Mexico, to Montreal. The airline said it anticipated the changes would affect 1% of its overall passenger-carrying capacity.
“Any affected customers will be contacted with alternate travel options,” an airline spokesperson said, referring to New York’s LaGuardia airport and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty international airport. The spokesperson said Air Canada would continue flying to LaGuardia and Newark “34 times daily from six cities across Canada”.
