Air Canada says its direct flights between Yellowknife and Toronto will be halted at the end of August.
The route was one of at least five earmarked by Air Canada for suspension according to reports on Friday, with the global rise in fuel prices cited as the rationale.
The airline’s Yellowknife-Toronto service was introduced in late 2023 and currently operates three times a week in each direction.
A public “discontinuance notice” placed in the Toronto Star stated no flights on the route will take place from September onward. (At the time of writing, flights beyond August 30 were still showing up in some places on Air Canada’s website.)
Other routes listed for suspension by Air Canada on Friday included Fort McMurray-Vancouver (ending May 28), Salt Lake City-Toronto (June 30), and flights between New York City’s John F Kennedy Internatonal Airport and Toronto and Montreal (June 1).
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The New York City routes are tentatively expected by the airline to resume on October 25, the CBC reported. No such suggestion of a resumption was given for the Yellowknife-Toronto route.
“As we regularly do, we monitor and review our network to ensure that routes are meeting profitability targets,” Air Canada told Cabin Radio in a statement emailed after this article was first published.
“Jet fuel prices have doubled since the start of the Iran conflict. Regrettably, Air Canada will discontinue its year-round non-stop scheduled air service between Yellowknife Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport, effective September 1, 2026.
“We introduced the non-stop flights to Toronto in 2023 to complement our primary services from Yellowknife to Edmonton and Vancouver. The Yellowknife-Toronto route has unfortunately never reached profitability.
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“In the current environment of high, sustained and unpredictable fuel costs, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue this route. Any affected customers will be contacted with travel options, including being rebooked onto alternate flights.”
The Iran war has closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant amount of global fuel is ordinarily shipped. As a consequence, a jet fuel shortage is building.
This week, for example, the head of the International Energy Agency warned Europe had “maybe six weeks of jet fuel left.”
Northern airlines like Air Tindi and Canadian North have, like the major carriers, begun adding surcharges in some circumstances to try to cope with added fuel costs.
Air North is the only other operator of direct services between Yellowknife and Ontario, which are seasonal.
