Canada’s biggest airports are reporting double digit growth. But air travel to smaller Canadian communities and mid-size cities has been drastically cut, pushing up prices and leaving parts of Canada feeling disconnected.
The 30 biggest airports in Canada have seen passenger capacity return to 98% of 2019 levels on average, according to the Canadian Airports Council. The next 30 are barely at 70%.
A surge in traffic on big-city routes has boosted Canada’s overall numbers. According to figures provided to The Canadian Press by aviation data firm Cirium, flight volumes for YVR-YUL have gone up 19%, while YYZ-YVR volume is up 12%. Volume between YYC and YOW has risen a remarkable 51% in the last five years.
But the number of non-stop flights between Sault Ste Marie, the third largest city in Ontario, and Toronto plunged 49% between May 2019 and May 2024, while fares rose 54%, the CBC reports. Flights between Calgary and Regina fell 41% in that time span, while fares increased 16%.
Cirium data shows 23 Canadian airports have lost all service, Simple Flying reports. In one example, Kingston YGK lost 33 weekly domestic routes, the most out of any airport in Canada.
In Cape Breton, residents now have to go through Montreal or Toronto if they want to fly to Halifax.
Overall, August of this year has 19.8% fewer weekly domestic flights and 6.1% fewer weekly domestic seats compared to August 2019, Simple Flying said.
Reg Wright, Director, President and CEO at Gander Airport in Newfoundland, says the airport lost four routes since 2019, including a WestJet run to Halifax.
“A third of our passengers have vanished into thin air,” he said in a story published in The Globe and Mail.
Airports in many Canadian communities serve as key hubs for critical services.
"If you're in the Yukon and you need to travel to Vancouver for your medical appointments, these are the essential roles … whether it's fighting fires, moving health-care workers, even getting food on our grocery store shelves," said Canadian Airports Council president Monette Pasher.
Simple Flying’s report said that one of the problems is that Canadian airlines such as regional carrier Jazz have streamlined their fleets and eliminated some smaller, short-range aircraft. It’s not profitable to put larger planes with higher operating costs on short-haul routes, so flights get cancelled.
