An airplane takes off from Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 6, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

By Wa Lone and Doyinsola Oladipo

TORONTO/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Air Canada is betting on business travel to support an expansion of service from Toronto's downtown airport, with new routes to the United States, in a boost for cross-border flying despite trade tensions between the two countries.

Canada's largest carrier will offer new service in spring 2026 from the country's largest city and economic hub to New York, Boston, Washington and Chicago, Chief Commercial Officer Mark Galardo told reporters at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

Canadians have been slashing travel plans to the United States over President Donald Trump's tariff war and concerns over U.S. immigration policy, with airlines like Air Canada and United Airlines cutting capacity on certain U.S.-bound leisure flights.

Though the number of returning Canadian-resident trips from overseas countries by air increased 3.9% in September 2025, on an annual basis, the number of returning Canadian-resident trips by air from the United States declined 27.1% during the same period, according to data from Statistics Canada.

Air Canada's longstanding plans to double capacity to the urban airport would not be affected by politics, since business travel between the two countries has remained relatively stable, despite declines on some leisure routes, Galardo said.

"One thing we haven't seen is a reduction in business travel," he said. "In fact, Americans coming to Canada, that number hasn't dropped, and business travel overall has stayed relatively robust."

According to the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) about half of the business travelers visiting the United States from Canada during the first quarter were from the province of Ontario.

The slump in demand to visit the U.S., the largest travel and tourism economy globally, goes beyond Canadians.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, international travel spending in the United States is expected to decline about 7%, or $12.5 billion, in 2025.

(Reporting by Wa Lone in Toronto, Doyinsola Oladipo in New York. Additional reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru. Writing by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)