Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is begging European airports not to slash U.S. flights–but the real culprit behind the empty seats and cancelled routes is Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
Since the start of Trump’s second term, his harsh border crackdowns and anti-immigrant rhetoric have created a chilling effect on international travel. The result: fewer people want to fly into America. Instead of welcoming students, tourists, and business travelers, Trump has turned the U.S. into an unwelcoming fortress. Foreign airlines, faced with dwindling passenger demand, are pulling out of the American market.
Top Three Takeaways from the Article:
Trump’s immigration policies are driving down demand for U.S. travel, prompting foreign airlines like Norse Atlantic and Play Airlines to cancel or suspend routes to America.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is pressuring European airports to keep flights open, even as demand continues to weaken and airports impose their own restrictions.
The cancellations highlight the economic fallout of restrictive immigration policies, showing how Trump’s agenda undermines tourism, trade, and America’s role in global air travel.
The damage is already clear. Norwegian budget carrier Norse Atlantic Airways has redirected several of its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners away from U.S. routes, sending them to destinations like Thailand instead. Flights from Oslo and Berlin to Miami are gone, as are routes to Las Vegas and even New York’s JFK. The final Norse flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle is scheduled for October 17.
Icelandic low-cost airline Play Airlines–once a rising competitor in transatlantic travel–announced it will suspend all U.S.-Europe flights by October 2025. CEO Einar Örn Ólafsson framed the shift as “focusing on what works,” but the subtext is obvious: the American market no longer makes sense. Travelers are staying away.
At the International Civil Aviation Organization meeting in Montreal on September 24, Duffy scolded European governments and airports in Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Dublin for reducing U.S. gate slots. He called these restrictions “anti-competitive” and warned of retaliation. But what Duffy refused to acknowledge is that these airports are reacting to demand, not arbitrarily slashing capacity. And demand is collapsing precisely because Trump has made America less attractive–and in some cases, outright hostile–for foreign visitors.
Noise restrictions at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and passenger caps in Lisbon and Dublin are convenient scapegoats for Duffy. Yet airlines don’t cut profitable routes–they cut the ones passengers no longer fill. After years of Trump vilifying immigrants, threatening foreign students, and undermining work visa programs, international travelers see little reason to cross the Atlantic.
This isn’t the first time Duffy has tried to frame foreign regulators as the problem. Over the summer, he attacked the Mexican government for reducing gate slots in Mexico City, even going so far as to dissolve the longstanding partnership between Delta and Aeromexico. But Mexico, like Europe, is responding to shifting realities in air traffic–realities created by Trump’s isolationist, xenophobic policies.
Duffy claims cutting U.S. flights is bad for “commerce, trade, and the movement of people.” He’s right. But the root cause isn’t Amsterdam or Lisbon–it’s Washington. Trump’s immigration policies have shrunk the U.S. role in global travel, kneecapping airlines and punishing workers who depend on tourism and trade.
Trump promised to make America great. Instead, his closed-door immigration agenda has made America empty. The skies tell the story: fewer flights, fewer visitors, fewer opportunities.