Some Canadian Flights Impacted by US Government Shutdown: Air Canada, Porter

A Porter plane taxis at the airport in Ottawa on March 30, 2025. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Porter Airlines and Air Canada say some flights between Canada and the United States are facing delays and cancellations due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which has led to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cutting flights at a number of major American airports due to staffing shortages.

Porter Airlines and Air Canada told The Epoch Times that some flights to and from the United States are still available but that flight disruptions have occurred.

“We continue to fly our normal schedule but we have experienced some delays of our transborder flights, a relatively small number of which have resulted in cancellations. However, as the situation is evolving in real time we have no numbers to provide,” a spokesperson for Air Canada wrote in a Nov. 10 statement to The Epoch Times, adding that there is no disruption of domestic Canadian transcontinental flights.

The Air Canada spokesperson added that they have instituted a goodwill policy for customers who are connecting to U.S. domestic flights on Air Canada’s partner airline United Airlines that allows customers to change or delay their travel for no fee. Air Canada also advised customers to check their flight status before going to the airport.

For its part, Porter said that “some U.S. destinations” are still available.

“We encourage passengers to check their flight status before leaving for the airport,” a spokesperson for Porter Airlines told The Epoch Times in a Nov. 10 statement. “For those who have flexibility, complimentary moves to some U.S. destinations are available through Monday, when space permits.”

The FAA cancelled numerous flights at 40 major U.S. airports on Nov. 7 as part of an emergency plan to reduce operations by 10 percent at those airports by Nov. 14.

The ongoing U.S. federal government shutdown started Oct. 1 of this year and has led to 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents having to work without receiving pay.

“We are seeing signs of stress in the system, so we are proactively reducing the number of flights to make sure the American people continue to fly safely,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said Nov. 6. “The FAA will continue to closely monitor operations, and we will not hesitate to take further action to make sure air travel remains safe.”

Other Canadian airlines said they are also monitoring the situation closely.

“International airlines are not affected by FAA cuts at this time, but we are closely monitoring the situation,” a spokesperson for Flair Airlines wrote in a Nov. 10 email to The Epoch Times.

Air Transat, meanwhile, said its U.S. flights account for under 2 percent of its global network and thus expects to be unaffected or very marginally affected by the shutdown.

“We only operate 2 destinations in the transborder market, being Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. We have not yet received any specific directives from U.S. authorities nor airports, but in any case, we expect little to no impact on our operations,” spokesperson Marie-Christine Pouliot wrote in a Nov. 10 statement to The Epoch Times.