Air Canada<\/a>\u2019s chief commercial officer, told analysts on April 30 in reference to summer flights.<\/p>\nAcceptance of higher ticket prices means those fares likely won\u2019t come down until early autumn, said John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University.<\/p>\n
\u201cDomestically, it\u2019s gangbusters,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a very strong will on the part of the carriers not to put Canada on sale this summer, because demand is still strong even at those higher rates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some 2.5 million passengers boarded domestic flights in May, a 6.4 per cent jump from May 2025, according to Statistics Canada. Air travel to the U.S. nudged downward 2.1 per cent \u2014 the 16th consecutive month of year-over-year drops \u2014 while transborder car traffic rose.<\/p>\n
Much of Canadians\u2019 renewed interest in their own country continues a turn away from U.S. travel that began last year, a shift prompted by the tariff war set off by U.S. President Donald Trump and his 51st-state rhetoric.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitics is big,\u201d said Wayne Smith, director of the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Research at Toronto Metropolitan University. But Canadians\u2019 aversion to America and enthusiasm for in-country trips goes beyond presidential proclamations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI call it misalignment of values,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIf you\u2019re LGBTQ+, if you\u2019re a minority … there\u2019s concerns about how you\u2019re going to get treated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fears abound about a more aggressive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, he said. Hence travellers\u2019 move toward Canadian destinations.<\/p>\n
Some residents have been making sacrifices elsewhere in order to afford travel. About 42 per cent of Canadian respondents to a survey from cashback rewards company Rakuten said they were cutting back spending in other areas even as they shell out on pricier plane trips.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite rising costs and volatility shaping how people spend, many are making intentional trade-offs elsewhere to protect travel, reflecting a growing desire to reconnect and recharge,\u201d said Rakuten general manager Jennifer LaForge in a news release.<\/p>\n
As long as demand holds steady airlines have little incentive to lower their fares, regardless of the fact that fuel prices are coming back down to earth, said Barry Choi, who runs the Money We Have personal finance and travel website.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to say it, but once prices go up airlines tend to not bring them back down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A one-way flight Choi hopes to take to Toronto from Los Cabos, Mexico, in December is already priced at about $700, he said. \u201cI\u2019ve flown to Europe round-trip for cheaper than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no reason why that flight should be as expensive as it is right now,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut they\u2019ve got the algorithms, they\u2019ve got the numbers. They know exactly what people are going to pay and what people are going to buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
International flights from Canada actually cost between two and three per cent less in June after soaring above 2025 levels through much of April and May. Experts attributed June\u2019s nearly flat year-over-year fares partly to the fact that they rose so high last year on explosive demand amid a partial boycott on U.S. travel.<\/p>\n
As of last Friday, the per-barrel price of jet fuel sat 24 per cent below levels from a month earlier, but 30 per cent higher than in late June of last year, according to the International Air Transport Association.<\/p>\n
Some Canadian airlines have scaled back fuel surcharges as energy prices fall, but others have stayed the course.<\/p>\n
WestJet has reduced its levy on companion voucher bookings to $40 from $60. Porter Airlines has cut the fuel surcharge for new reward flight bookings by half to $20.<\/p>\n
However, those reductions affect a relatively small slice of passengers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look into the details of those jet fuel surcharges, sometimes it\u2019s for reward flights only or for the companion fare only. So it actually doesn\u2019t affect the general public that much,\u201d Choi said.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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