American Airlines is suspending service from DFW International Airport to Canada’s three biggest cities amid continuing travel restrictions between the North American neighbors.
Fort Worth-based American has dropped flights from DFW International Airport to Vancouver until January and has suspended flights to Toronto and Montreal until October.
American Airlines spokeswoman Nichelle Tait said the company has suspended flights due to demand. During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand-related route suspensions have often come after government-imposed restrictions.
American is keeping its DFW direct flight to Calgary, Alberta, an important oil and natural gas region.
The U.S. and Canada jointly agreed to limit cross-border activity to “essential travel” in March. Canadians can still fly into the U.S., but Canada has put more limitations on Americans flying into Canada.
The countries have continued to extend the restrictions at least through Aug. 21, but there is no indication from either country that the limitations will be limited amid growing COVID-19 outbreaks in many parts of the United States.
With those restrictions, American Airlines has begun limiting nonstop access to Canada to airports with closer proximity. It’s still operating flights into Canada from Chicago, Charlotte and Philadelphia.
American has suspended much of its international travel, sometimes because of border-crossing restrictions and often because there is simply little demand for foreign trips during the pandemic.
American’s chief revenue officer Vasu Raja said in late July that the carrier will go into next year as an “extremely smaller carrier internationally.”
However, travel between the U.S. and Canada has always been considered in many ways domestic travel for airlines. The five major airports in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal are among the top 50 in North American by passengers, according to Airports Council International-North America.
American Airlines is still flying most of its DFW to Mexico routes, including flights to Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Cancun and Puerta Vallarta.
DFW Airport’s international traffic has decreased by 96% since the pandemic began, according to airport statistics from April and May. After having 9.5 million inbound and outbound international travelers in 2019, there were only 1.8 million through the first five months of the year, including just 74,421 in April and May.
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