Delta Air Lines has suffered “a significant drop” in travel bookings from Canada during its first quarter and is considering flight capacity cuts to this country, a top company executive said Wednesday.
“In Canada, we have seen a significant drop off in bookings. In Mexico, it’s kind of a mixed, a mixed bag. Some of the markets are performing better, some are performing worse,” Delta president Glenn Hallenstein told investment analysts on a conference call.
“So, we’re navigating through those waters and I think we will be looking at Canada and Mexico as places that we probably want to reduce our capacity levels as we move forward,” Hallenstein added, offering no further details.
Hallenstein made the remarks to airline analysts on a conference call after the Atlanta-based company released its latest quarterly financial results. The airline remains very profitable but suspended its financial forecast for the rest of the year, citing uncertainty triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s global tariffs and trade wars.
Delta offers Canadians service from several Canadian cities, including Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Quebec City and Halifax. So far, it is unclear where the carrier intends to make cuts. Delta’s Canadian flights connect to its hubs in Atlanta, Minneapolis–St. Paul and Seattle.
A Delta spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
But Canadians have deliberately cut cross-border travel by air and ground since the start of 2025 after Trump threatened to annex the country by “economic force” and make Canada its 51st state.
Trump has also infuriated Canadians by imposing unilateral tariffs on several sectors, despite trade agreements, triggering layoffs and shutdowns. Canadians have responded by cancelling work trips and vacations, while considering alternative destinations and airlines.
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Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the economic impact and uncertainty caused by tariff wars and frosty relations with Canada have hit one of the largest U.S. airlines with financial turbulence.
Bastian told another airline industry analyst during the conference call that all companies do “what they can to make sure they protect their future” during what he described as “a period of maximum or potentially maximum uncertainty.”
“And Delta is doing that, as we said, whether it’s reducing capacity or finding other ways to save cash and protect our margins.”
Delta is not alone. Canadian flagship carrier Air Canada is also cutting its flight capacity to the U.S. from Vancouver and other cities due to shrinking U.S. demand, aviation specialty website Simple Flying reports.
The cuts involve flights from Vancouver to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and Miami International Airport (MIA).
The drop in demand for U.S. travel by Canadians has hurt other Canadian airlines too, with WestJet suspending service to Seattle and Las Vegas from Kelowna International Airport.
Flair Airlines has also cut U.S.-bound flights on the low-cost carrier, cancelling its Toronto to Nashville route, while adding flights to Canadian cities like Saint John, N.B. so service there starts earlier than planned, spokeswoman Kim Bowie said.
“We’re deploying our fleet to best serve demand, which has been more heavily domestic,” Bowie added.
Quebec-based carrier Air Transat has also cut its capacity 10 per cent for flights to three cities in Florida since the start of the new year.
Delta’s Bastian also suggested his airline was in discussions with Airbus about potentially deferring new airplane deliveries for the balance of this year while tariff uncertainty plays out.
“They are a great partner. We’ll do our very best to see what we have to do to minimize tariffs. But the one thing that you need to know we’re very clear on is that we will not be paying tariffs on any aircraft deliveries we take,” Bastian said.
“These times are pretty uncertain. And if you start to put a 20 per cent incremental cost on top of an aircraft, it gets very difficult to make that math work. So we’ve been clear with Airbus on that, and we’ll work through and see what happens from that,” Bastian added.
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