Multiple airlines cancel US flights for surprising reason

Several major global retailers have scaled back their flights.

Jun 24, 2025 - 01:08

Multiple airlines cancel US flights for surprising reason

Between President Donald Trump's administration's immigration crackdown and wider political and financial uncertainty around U.S. involvement in the war between Israel and Iran, multiple airlines are scaling back their flights.

Over the weekend of June 21, aviation analytics firm reported that Air France (AFLYY) will suspend all flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Denver International Airport (DEN) running on its Airbus A350 (EADSF) planes for the winter season.

While previously running year-round, service between these two cities will now stop on Oct. 12, 2025 and resume on April 24, 2026. Air France will continue to run weekly Paris-Denver flights on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (BA) aircraft. The latter carries up to 296 passengers while certain models of the wider A350 can seat up to 410 people and have more high-fare seats — the A350 cut marks a significant scaleback of Air France's Denver service.

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European airlines cut flights to Denver, San Francisco, Atlanta

Flagship carrier Turkish Airlines has also recently announced a reduction in service to Denver, Atlanta and San Francisco from Istanbul Airport (IST).

While it is not exiting any markets entirely, Turkish Airlines has also trimmed weekly frequencies to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) amid what Cirium classified as lower demand for the summer of 2025 (the airline itself has not issued a statement on the reductions).

While Turkish Airlines is the only carrier connecting Atlanta, San Francisco, and Denver with a nonstop flight, lower demand has likely prompted it to redistribute use of its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner widebody planes. The reduction will bring down Denver and Atlanta service by 300 seats a week each, according to Cirium's data.

At the same time, Turkish Airlines has signed an interline agreement that will allow it to sell tickets and connect baggage for Montreal-based vacation airline Air Transat (amid the current administration's focus and policies, airlines have observed a spike in European travelers who are choosing to go to Canada instead of the U.S. and Canadians who want to vacation in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean instead of Florida or California).

Azul Brazilian Airlines is another international airline that recently cut flights to the U.S.
Image source: Shutterstock

Why are airlines canceling flights to the US? The reasons are numerous

On the South American side, Brazilian low-cost carrier Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras (AZUL) — also referred to as Azul Brazilian Airlines in English — has also announced a reduction in service to the U.S. While prompted primarily by the airline's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and need to rework its network, the cut flights are a signal to lower demand coming out of certain markets.

The affected routes include two flights to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) from Brazil's Belo Horizonte and Manaus and another from Willemstad in the Dutch Caribbean territory of Curaçao.

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The cuts, which were first reported by the aviation website Simple Flying, are expected to come into effect in August 2025. Azul has also not commented on the cuts specifically but previously spoke of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection progress and a business model that had been "burdened by the COVID-19 pandemic, macroeconomic headwinds, and aviation supply chain issues."