Canadian Flair Airlines has ended its flights to Nashville, Tennesse, as the political climate between the U.S. and its neighbor to the north sours.
“I can confirm that Flair won’t be flying to Nashville this summer,” Flair Communications Director Kim Bowie said, according to WKRN. Flair’s site indicates that the flights to Nashville are the airline's only route to Tennessee.
The Department of Tourist Development commissioner, Mark Ezell, said during a meeting on Monday of the Tennessee House Finance, Ways and Means Committee that it’s a loss of roughly 18,000 seats.
“We see travelers quickly react to political news, and then we see that great marketing overcomes that traveler settlement,” he noted.
Ezell said that while the department is concerned about the cancellation of Flair flights to Nashville, he argued that the state will be able to overcome the difficulties because of the state’s many attractions.
“Do you really want to miss seeing the Smoky Mountains,” he said. “Do you really want to miss getting to go to Graceland?”
Canadians’ relationship with their U.S. neighbors has been strained following President Donald Trump’s second election victory and the enacting of widespread tariffs against the country. The U.S. national anthem has been booed at NHL and NBA games, and American goods, such as whiskey from Tennessee, have been removed from Canadian shelves.
There have also been reports of Canadians canceling travel plans to the U.S. According to the travel agency Flight Centre Travel Group Canada, leisure travel to the U.S. decreased 40 percent last month compared to February last year.
“Canadians are angry,” former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier this month. “We’re going to choose to not go on vacation to Florida or Old Orchard Beach or wherever. We’re gonna choose to try to buy Canadian products and forgo bourbon and other classic American products. We’re probably going to continue booing the American National Anthem.”
Meanwhile, Air Canada has announced that it will limit the number of flights to Arizona, Florida, and Nevada. Similarly, WestJet told the Canadian Press news agency that many bookings had changed from the U.S. to Mexico and the Caribbean. Sunwing Airlines has removed all of its flights to the U.S., and Air Transat has reduced its U.S. flights.
Porter Airlines told the National Post that it was removing its advertising of flights to the U.S. as “some Canadians may view this negatively.”
