More Europeans are flying to Canada than ever before, aviation data shows

Business Insider

a day ago

A record number of flights are scheduled between Canada and Europe this month.
It's up 40% over the past decade, with Air Canada adding over 100 flights since last year.
It comes after both sides showed less interest in traveling to the US since Trump's election.
According to data from the aviation analytics firm Cirium, a record-breaking 4,276 flights are scheduled between Canada and Europe this month.
That's up 5% since the same period last year, 14% since before the pandemic, and more than 40% over the past decade.
The rise has been backed by flag carrier Air Canada, which added an extra 112 flights, or 34,500 seats, this month.
It opened five new transatlantic routes, including Edinburgh, Scotland, and Naples, Italy, to Montreal.
Flights between the US and Europe have been growing too, but not as quickly.
Cirium data shows a rise of 4% between August 2024 and August 2025, and one-third between August 2015 and August 2025.
Airlines have raised concerns that fewer people are interested in visiting the US since Donald Trump began his second presidency in January.
For July and August, airlines cut capacity by 3.5% on routes between the US and Canada, OAG reported in March.
"This sharp drop suggests that travelers are holding off on making reservations, likely due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding the broader trade dispute," said John Grant, the travel data firm's chief analyst.
While political tensions also saw bookings drop from Europe, price cuts helped encourage a rebound in May, Nicholas Smith, holidays digital director at Thomas Cook and eSky Group, told Business Insider's Thibault Spirlet in June.
Nonetheless, it may be that more Europeans are now choosing Canada instead of the US for a transatlantic vacation.
In April, the CEO of hotel giant Accor told Bloomberg that forward bookings for Europeans visiting the US this summer have fallen by a quarter. He added that they were instead looking at destinations like Canada and South America.
And while many Americans are still enjoying their " Euro Summers," the post-pandemic explosion of such trips may start to wane.