Ottawa airport sees drop in travellers flying to and from United States in 2025

Planes are seen at the Ottawa International Airport on Feb. 19, 2025. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa)

Fewer travellers chose to fly to and from the United States out of the Ottawa International Airport in 2025, with a significant drop in travellers flying to the U.S. in November and December.

Statistics available on the Ottawa Airport website show 726,311 passengers travelled on Transborder flights between Ottawa and the United States in 2025, down from 741,449 passengers in 2024.

The data shows a decline in Transborder trips each month between September and December.

There were 65,563 Transborder passengers travelling through the Ottawa Airport in December, down from 81,666 in December 2024 and 72,868 travellers in December 2023.

In November, there were 51,977 Transborder passengers at the Ottawa Airport, down from 69,710 passengers in November 2024. The Ottawa Airport saw 52,300 Transborder travellers in October and 42,746 in September.

The drop in visitors came amid the tariff war between Canada and the United States, the low Canadian dollar, and anger over U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments about Canada becoming the 51st state.

Porter Airlines is launching flights from Ottawa to two U.S. destinations this winter. Porter is now operating three flights a week from Ottawa to Miami, while non-stop service will launch Feb. 7 between Ottawa and Phoenix.

The Ottawa Airport says Transborder passengers are all passengers on flights departing to and from destinations in the United States.

A total of 4.866 million passengers travelled through the Ottawa Airport in 2025, up from 4.6 million passengers in 2024 and four million in 2023.

The airport saw an increase in international travellers in 2025, with 485,641 passengers travelling to destinations outside Canada and the United States, up from 433,875 international passengers in 2024.