Flair Airlines cancels Nashville route as state tourism blames trade war

Article content

Tennessee’s tourism department is blaming Canada’s trade war with the United States for Flair Airlines Ltd. cancelling its summer flights to Nashville.

Article content

Flair Airlines said the summer cancellations are due to demand shifts.

“We have served Toronto to Nashville several times weekly for the past few years,” Eric Tanner, vice-president of commercial for Flair Airlines, said in a statement. “We have decided not to return to Nashville this season. We look forward to our return to Nashville in the future as we are constantly evaluating market demand.”

Article content

Tennessee Department of Tourist Development commissioner Mark Ezell blamed “noise” in Canada for travel softness in the state.

“We see travellers quickly react to political news and then we see that great marketing overcomes that traveller sentiment,” he said during a meeting of the Tennessee House Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Monday. “Do you really want to miss seeing the Smoky Mountains? Do you really want to miss getting to go to Graceland and seeing Elvis for the first time?”

Ezell said Flair’s cancellations represent about 18,000 seats this summer, but he is confident that travellers will return.

“We know how important the dollars are to spend to keep talking to folks through the noise, and, right now, it’s loud for Canada and we are seeing a lot of cancellations, but it’s one we think we can overcome because we think Tennessee’s got so many great assets and Canada is our No. 1 traveller market,” he said.

Several other Canadian airlines have already dialed back their U.S. flights as demand wanes.

Earlier this month, Porter Airlines Inc. said it had scaled back its U.S. marketing “as some Canadians may view this negatively,” according to the National Post. And Air Canada in February said it would reduce capacity at some U.S. destinations.

• Email: bcousins@postmedia.com

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the business news you need to know — add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

Share this article in your social network