Air Canada has quietly trimmed 14 routes from its 2026 network, hitting all three of its main hubs and removing some connections that travellers may have assumed were permanent. The cuts, tracked by aviation analysts Cirium, stem largely from a steep rise in jet fuel costs — the airline says fuel prices have doubled since the start of the Iran conflict, making thinner routes uneconomic to run.
Toronto Pearson has borne the brunt with nine cancellations. The most surprising is the one-stop service to Mumbai via London Heathrow, which ended in March. The Sun destinations took the biggest overall hit: flights to Cayo Coco, Varadero, Holguín and Santa Clara in Cuba have all gone from Toronto, while Zihuatanejo in Mexico lost its Air Canada link in April. On the domestic side, Toronto has lost services to North Bay in Ontario and — more significantly — to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, a route that matters for anyone reaching Canada's far north. New York-JFK flights from Toronto also ended in May.
Montreal-Trudeau has lost four routes. Three were international: the same Cayo Coco, Varadero and New York-JFK pairings as Toronto, ending in February and May. The domestic loss is Bathurst in New Brunswick, where January's exit left regional charter operator Propair as the only airline serving the town. For a small community, a single-carrier exit like that can mean sharply higher fares and awkward connections.
Vancouver has escaped comparatively lightly. Its only cancellation is the domestic route to Fort McMurray in Alberta, dropped in May. Air Canada still flies there from Calgary and Toronto — competing with WestJet on the Calgary corridor and holding a monopoly from Toronto — while WestJet Encore serves Fort McMurray from Edmonton.
For holidaymakers, the practical takeaway is that Cuban beach destinations have taken a real hit: four Toronto leisure routes to the island are gone, so if Cuba is on your list you may now be routing through Montreal, another carrier, or a charter. Travellers between Canada and India should note the Mumbai one-stop is no longer bookable via Heathrow, pushing people toward WestJet, Air India or other connection points. And anyone heading to Yellowknife, Bathurst or Fort McMurray should check schedules carefully — in some of these markets, options are down to one or two carriers, which rarely does fares any favours.
It's worth remembering that route cancellations like these are rarely permanent. Airlines restore seasonal and marginal routes when fuel cools off or demand rebounds, and Cuban sun routes in particular tend to reappear when economics allow. But for the rest of 2026, anyone flying these corridors on Air Canada will need a new plan — and possibly a new airline.
Simple Flying
