WestJet is slimming down its international network in a big way, wiping 15 destinations off its route map. The Calgary-based carrier says a brutal combination of expensive jet fuel and collapsed demand on certain corridors made these flights impossible to keep running profitably.

The single biggest casualty is Cuba. WestJet has exited the island entirely, dropping all seven destinations it once served: Havana, Varadero, Cayo Coco, Cienfuegos, Cayo Largo del Sur, Holguín and Santa Clara. Cuba has been struggling with fuel shortages and rolling nationwide blackouts, and shifting travel patterns did the rest. For Canadian snowbirds who relied on these routes for affordable winter sun, the options for getting to Varadero's beaches on WestJet just vanished.

Europe took a hit too. Halifax's seasonal links to Copenhagen and Madrid lasted exactly one season before being shelved, and Toronto-Glasgow — only recently revived after a multi-year break — has been permanently axed. Edinburgh now stands alone as the airline's sole Scottish connection. Elsewhere, Montreal's service to San Andrés Island in Colombia is gone, Calgary-Guadalajara has been suspended, and the Vancouver to Lihue (Kauai) flight quietly disappeared from the schedule.

Even domestically, two Alberta routes out of Calgary — to Medicine Hat and Lethbridge — have been completely eliminated as the airline consolidates around its core Western Canada mainline network.

So what's behind all this? Fuel is the headline factor. Following recent Middle East conflict and the disruption of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices spiked hard — West Texas Intermediate topped $103 a barrel and Brent crude settled near $117. Long-haul, low-yield leisure routes are the first thing that stops making money when fuel costs surge like that.

The second factor is uniquely Canadian: transborder travel to the United States has fallen off a cliff. Statistics Canada data shows air travel south of the border down 19% and vehicle crossings down 31% versus 2024, with forward bookings for peak seasons collapsing by more than 70%. Tariffs, trade tensions and political rhetoric — including suggestions about Canada becoming the "51st state" — have triggered what amounts to a consumer boycott of US destinations among many Canadians. WestJet, Air Canada and Air Transat have all pulled hundreds of thousands of seats from US routes, though WestJet is keeping the busiest American corridors that still fill seats.

For travellers, the practical takeaway is to double-check your bookings. If you had a WestJet flight to Cuba, Glasgow, Madrid, Copenhagen, Guadalajara, San Andrés or Kauai booked for the coming season, contact the airline about rebooking or refunds. If you're a fan of cheap winter packages to Varadero, you'll likely need to look at other carriers. And if you're flying within Western Canada, expect WestJet to keep adding domestic capacity — that's where its aircraft are heading.