Between jet fuel prices and the Trump administration’s anti-immigration crackdown that in some cases extended to tourists, traveler numbers into the U.S. continue to flounder.
Numbers from the World Travel & Tourism Council showed a 5.5% drop in visitors coming into the U.S. from all over the world in 2025 while monthly numbers have slid for the 14th consecutive month last March.
What some travelers and analysts classify as the “Trump Slump” has extended into the world of airlines. The latest carrier to confirm the cancelation of a once-popular route to the U.S. from London Heathrow is British giant Virgin Atlantic.
“Difficult decision to temporarily suspend our services”: Virgin Atlantic
As first reported by AirlineGeeks, the airline scrapped the route to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) from its 2026-2027 winter schedule.
“Due to evolving customer demand, we’re making some changes to our winter 2026 flying program,” Virgin confirmed in a statement. “We have taken the difficult decision to temporarily suspend our services from Seattle for the winter 2026 season only. We intend to resume our daily service in March 2027.”
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The route had been running seasonally since 2017 and was intended to return in October; while Virgin did not elaborate on the reasons for scrapping the flight, almost all major carriers have been trying to maximize the use of jet fuel by reworking their networks to only run the routes most likely to bring in the largest numbers of passengers.
Many flights to secondary cities and seasonal destinations in Europe are, as a result, often the first victims of the axe in favor of routes between major global hubs.
When it comes to Seattle, the same route is already flown by Virgin codeshare partner Delta Air Lines and so is part of what in times of lower travel can be an oversaturated market. Alaska Airlines is also planning to launch a London-Seattle flight on May 21.
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Air Canada also cuts four flights to U.S. holiday cities
“Customers can continue to travel from Seattle with our partner Delta Air Lines, who will offer daily services to London Heathrow,” the Virgin spokesperson said further. “We’d like to apologize to any affected customers and will be contacting them with their options which include rebooking or a refund.”
National airline Air Canada has also, in the last 48 hours, confirmed that it is cutting four seasonal flights to holiday destinations including Sacramento and Charleston from Toronto as well as Raleigh-Durham from Vancouver and Austin from Montreal. All routes will be phased out before the start of the fall instead of running throughout the year and into the winter as initially expected.
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The airline had previously exited JFK Airport entirely while also significantly trimming its U.S. network due to demand that nosedived since the start of Trump’s second term in the White House.
“This decision was made as a result of the current price of jet fuel,” an Air Canada spokesperson said in a statement on the cancelations. “Affected customers will be contacted with alternate travel options, including the option of full refund where applicable.”
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