The Number Of Flights In The Sky Over Canada Is Shocking Compared To The US

So many planes!
Senior Writer

Air travel isn't back to normal yet but that doesn't mean there aren't any planes cruising high above. When looking at live radars, there are far fewer flights in Canada than in the U.S. The difference is pretty shocking.

If you've ever been curious about how many planes are up in the sky at any given moment, you can actually check that out online.

Flightradar24 lets you see where planes are in real-time.

You can also click on each of the planes to see which carrier it belongs to, the flight number, where it took off from and where it will land.

When looking at North America, there's a really stark difference between the True North and its southerly neighbour.

The U.S. is covered with flights to the point where you sometimes can't tell what state the planes are flying over.

In Canada, you can make out most of them without having to zoom in.

At around 11:40 a.m. ET on July 30, there were just a couple hundred flights above Canadian skies.

Compare that to Canada, the U.S., parts of Mexico and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where there were around 1,500 flights alltogether.

Flightradar24

Canada still has a global travel advisory in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It warns against all non-essential travel outside of the country, as returning home may be difficult.

There are no plans to do further repatriation flights so you might have to stay abroad for longer than you planned if travel is heavily restricted again.

Canadian airlines like WestJet and Air Canada are taking to the skies as flights resume around the world.

However, operations aren't like they used to be, and many carriers have reduced schedules.

Temperature checks have come into effect at four major Canadian airports, and anyone with a fever won't be allowed to board.

Passengers with symptoms or who have been turned away from a flight in the last 14 days because of something COVID-19 related can also be denied entry.

  • Senior Writer

    Lisa Belmonte (she/her) is a Senior Writer with Narcity Media. After graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), she joined the Narcity team. Lisa covers news and notices from across the country from a Canada-wide perspective. Her early coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic earned Narcity its first-ever national journalism award nomination.

Jennifer Pan pleads guilty to manslaughter in a major update to the 16-year-old case

The shocking killing was the subject of a recent Netflix documentary.

A Canadian & her 7-year-old daughter are in US border detention and their family has no info

Her husband says it's still unclear why they were taken and he hasn't received any information about when they'll be released.

An Ontario border officer has been arrested for drug trafficking & importing

The officer allegedly allowed a transport truck with millions of dollars' worth of drugs from the U.S. into Canada.

24 Costco snacks that are worth buying even if you live alone

You might want to add these to your grocery list!

The happiest countries for 2026 were revealed and the US beat Canada for the first time ever

It's Canada's lowest ranking since the report was launched in 2012.

Canada Pension Plan payments for March go out soon and the average amount is over $800

Look for a direct deposit in your bank account or a cheque in your mailbox.

Pierre Poilievre & Joe Rogan said Trump's call to annex Canada was 'a crazy thing to say'

"I just wish he'd knock that sh*t off," Polievre said on Rogan's podcast.

7 things that send me into an existential crisis as a Canadian living abroad

There's some surprising things that make me homesick for Canada.