Air Canada to temporarily suspend flights to U.S.

Air Canada has announced it is suspending service to the United States after Canada and the U.S. agreed to extend restrictions on cross-border travel for another 30 days because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The airline said Tuesday its last commercial flights between Canada and the U.S. will be on April 26. It plans to resume service May 22, unless government restrictions are extended again. It willwaive change fees for affected customers.

Non-essential travel between Canada and the U.S. was bannedas of March 21, though the border has remained open for trade and commerce, with exemptions also granted for emergency response and public health purposes.

The original border restrictions put in place a month ago were set to expire today, but the new agreement extends it until mid-May.

WestJethas also extended its suspension of all transborder and international flights. It stopped flying those routes as of March 22 for 30 days. As of yesterday, it extended the service suspensionuntil June 4.

WestJetalso announced that it is cutting 600 flights per day from its domestic schedule betweenMay 5 and June 4, including the temporary cancellation of routes between some Canadian cities.

Air Transat flights have beensuspended until May 31and Porter Airlinesgrounded allflightsuntil June 1.Sunwing also suspended all commercial flights but has yet to announce a return-to-service date.

Air Canada said it has reduced its schedule by 90 per cent due to COVID-19, but it had continued service to 11 U.S. destinations to help repatriate Canadians over the past month.

• Air Canada to rehire 16,500 laid-off workers with help of federal wage subsidy
• Air passengers will be required to wear non-medical masks starting April 20