Summer flights to Europe from Halifax up 40% as fewer Canadians choose U.S. for travel

Summer flights to Europe from Halifax up 40% as fewer Canadians choose U.S. for travel

Airport now has record 15 direct flights to Europe and expects historic passenger traffic this year

More options and the reluctance of Canadians to travel to the U.S. have helped drive a major increase in transatlantic passenger traffic out of Halifax Stanfield International Airport this summer, according to stakeholders.

Flights to Europe from Halifax are up 40 per cent for this summer over this time last year, according to data from aviation analytics company Cirium. That's significantly higher than the 1.8 per cent increase reflected for the rest of Canada and an eight per cent increase throughout North America.

“We are the most internationally connected airport of our size in North America, so we're very proud of that and that just speaks to, you know, the investment from the airlines and from travellers,” said Mikela Sani-Routledge, a spokesperson for the Halifax International Airport Authority.

Fifteen direct routes to European cities are now flying out of Halifax, which Sani Routledge said is a record for the facility. Four new routes from Air Canada and WestJet started this year, including regular direct flights to Brussels beginning this week.

The added routes and increased frequencies of existing routes are driving the jump in trips across the Atlantic Ocean.

These routes are helping set up an anticipated record year for the Halifax airport, which expects to have 4.4 million travellers pass through the turnstiles in 2026, according to Sani Routledge.

Halifax Stanfield reported in February it had served a total of more than 4.1 million passengers in 2025.

“We're seeing a lot of interest. And I think that's why the airlines are continuing to invest here with the expansion of the route network,” Sani-Routledge said.

This is the first summer of operation for the airport’s new international connections facility, which aims to make it easier for international passengers to move through the airport.

Tensions with U.S. opened opportunity in other markets

Many travellers in the Halifax area are taking advantage of the direct flights from Halifax to Europe, according to a local travel agent.

Myranda Miller, branch manager of Maritime Travel in Halifax, said, for one, the cost for routes to places like Spain and Germany is similar to trips to other cities in Canada and the U.S.

“When you compare them to other destinations, they're quite affordable,” she said.

It’s not news to anyone that fewer Canadians are travelling to the U.S. since President Donald Trump began imposing tariffs on Canada and suggesting his country should make Canada its 51st state, Miller said.

“But that's just opened up the opportunity for an increase in other markets and that's why we're seeing such a high demand and more service into Europe,” she said.

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Josh Hoffman is a reporter for CBC Nova Scotia. Josh worked as a local radio reporter all over Canada before moving to Nova Scotia in 2018.