Air Canada temporarily suspends 2 domestic routes, 1 transborder and 1 international

TORONTO — Air Canada is suspending more routes amid the oil supply crisis sparked by the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran.

According to a report in the Toronto Star, Air Canada says the temporarily dropped routes are no longer meeting profitability targets given the current economic climate.

The airline and travel industries are keeping a close eye on the Strait of Hormuz, currently closed after briefly reopening on Friday. The price of oil and along with it, the price of jet fuel, have skyrocketed in recent weeks, and airlines and airports have sounded alarm bells not just on price worries, but supply shortages too.

According to the Star, Air Canada will suspend service between Toronto and Yellowknife at the end of August, and between Fort McMurray and Vancouver in late May. To the U.S., Air Canada will suspend its YYZ-SLC effective June 30, with an eye to resuming the route next year. And internationally, Air Canada has for now called off its new nonstop service to Guadalajara out of YUL, set to begin June 2.

The news came shortly after Air Canada announced it was temporarily suspending its JFK flights from Toronto and Montreal effective June 1 through late October.

Experts say it will take weeks for oil traffic to ramp up if the strait reopens, while jet fuel could take much longer to reach pre-war production levels given the damage to refineries in the Middle East.

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