Air Canada suspends all U.S. flights with border closed for another month

An Air Canada plane prepares to take off from San Francisco International Airport, something no Air Canada planes will be doing for the next month, on Nov. 26, 2019.(Jeff Chiu/AP)

Air Canada has suspended all flights to and from the U.S. for a month.

The airline announced the news three days after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the travel restrictions on the U.S.-Canada border would be extended until May 22.

“Air Canada plans to resume service to the U.S. May 22, subject to any further government restrictions beyond that date,” the unofficial airline of the Great White North said in a press release announcing the news.

The border has been closed to all but essential travel since March 21, but Air Canada was still maintaining “limited service” to 11 U.S. airports, “primarily to facilitate the repatriation of Canadians.”

Air Canada said all passengers affected by the suspension could reschedule flights for no additional fee but did not promise refunds.

“These aren’t normal times,” Trudeau said Saturday. “We’re living through an unprecedented public health emergency and we need to keep responding accordingly.”

In normal, pre-coronavirus times, more than 200,000 people would cross the U.S.-Canada border daily.