Canada’s push to rebuild ties with China hits a snag: a lack of direct flights

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By Ralph Jennings

Published April 28, 2026

Canada has permitted an ‘incremental increase’ in flights to China, but airlines may be reluctant to add services amid the wars in Ukraine and Iran

Canada plans to allow more flight connections to China, as it seeks to rebuild ties with Beijing and capitalise on rising demand for Canadian travel among Chinese tourists, but airlines may be reluctant to add new routes due to soaring jet fuel costs and a lack of access to Russian airspace.

Steven MacKinnon, Canada’s transport minister, announced last week that Ottawa would permit an “incremental” increase in direct passenger combination flights to China and up to 20 cargo flights per week.

The move was designed to support “the renewal of Canada’s economic relationship with China”, according to a government statement, as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration pivots towards Beijing to hedge against rising tensions with the United States.

Tourism is central to that relationship, analysts said, with demand for bilateral travel rising on both sides of the Pacific.

Chinese tourists have a growing interest in “open” natural scenery and “culturally diverse” cities, common assets in Canada, said Subramania Bhatt, CEO of the technology and marketing firm China Trading Desk. He added that they also saw Canada as more accessible after a resumption of group tours last year.

There has been a “steady” rise in bookings to Canada by Chinese travellers in recent years, particularly to Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Ottawa, according to Fliggy, a major Chinese travel booking platform. Fliggy is owned by Alibaba Group Holding, which also owns the South China Morning Post.

Meanwhile, flight bookings from Canada to China had more than doubled this year as of April 26, compared with the same period last year, after China granted Canadian citizens visa-free entry in February, Fliggy added in a statement. Bookings also rose year on year in 2024.

Since the pandemic, Chinese demand for travel to Canada has been “really stable and even improving slightly, with none of the volatility we see for some other destinations like the US, Japan or Thailand,” said Sienna Parulis-Cook, marketing and communications director for the travel technology and marketing firm Dragon Trail International.

But tourist flows still lag pre-pandemic levels, she added, largely due to a lack of flights.

Last year, the number of Chinese travellers entering Canada reached 66 per cent of 2019 levels, up from 40 per cent in 2024, according to China Trading Desk.

Carney aims to recalibrate ties with China after years of tensions following the arrests in 2018 of a senior official at Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies and two Canadian citizens.

Lee Tseng, a Toronto native who has lived in Shanghai for the past 24 years, hopes additional flights lower fares and bring more Canadian tourists to his pizza bar. He added a Hong Kong layover on a Shanghai-Toronto trip last year to save money, and has not returned this year.

“It’s on the improvement end at the moment, compared to what it was cut down to before Covid,” said Tseng, 47. “Convenience is a big thing and ticket prices are another.”

There are currently 70 to 75 direct flights between China and Canada operating per week, according to independent aviation analyst Li Hanming. They connect Toronto and Vancouver to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Flagship carrier Air Canada said on Tuesday that it would operate 18 weekly flights to Beijing and Shanghai this summer, with the company resuming its Toronto-Shanghai route from June.

Any further new routes or destinations would “only be announced in due course when commercial decisions are finalised”, the airline added.

But Li expects Air Canada to hit a “bottleneck”, because Russia has banned Canadian airlines from using its airspace in retaliation for Western sanctions related to the war in Ukraine.

The lack of access to Russian airspace – which does not apply to Chinese airlines – has forced Western airlines to take lengthy detours to reach China, raising their costs and making it hard for them to compete with their Chinese peers.

The longer flight times have become an even bigger issue since the outbreak of the US-Israel war on Iran, which has sent global jet fuel costs soaring. The price of jet fuel stood at more than US$179 per barrel as of Friday, far above pre-war levels.

“This creates an operating-cost imbalance and may make Canadian airlines cautious about using their full quotas, especially if other international routes offer better yields,” Bhatt said.