At least 5 million people are expected to fly across North America for the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer, triggering a surge in short-haul and international air travel across 16 host cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
With fans planning multi-city itineraries to follow their teams, carriers across the globe are adding seats, flying larger-than-usual planes, and launching new nonstop services to support the boom:
- Colombia’s Avianca will run the only nonstop flight between Guatemala City and San Francisco.
- Suriname Airways is running special flights to Miami that hop across the Caribbean.
- Brazil’s GOL Linhas Aéreas is boosting flights to Florida by about 70%.
- United and American added temporary routes to Kansas City for the quarterfinals.
The World Cup bump is modest in the context of the broader US airline system, which routinely flies millions of seats each week.
United Airlines’ CEO Scott Kirby recently called it a small portion of the overall booming summer travel season. It’s also possible that some regular leisure tourists who would otherwise travel may skip host cities during the games.
Still, IATA data shows bookings to most host cities rising 2%-8% year over year between June and July, with airlines preparing for a concentrated influx of travelers around marquee games featuring favorites like Spain and France.
As the tournament’s “Official North American Airline Supplier,” American Airlines said it’s adding 27,000 seats on 12 routes for the games, including two temporary ones from Atlanta and New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Kansas City for the quarterfinal round in July.
It’s also temporarily swapping some regional jets for larger Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies to carry more people.
United Airlines launched a special World Cup portal that includes special routes between Guadalajara, Mexico, and Chicago, and between Los Angeles and Kansas City, while Delta Air Lines has bolstered capacity to host cities.
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Several international airlines are also adjusting or launching new long-haul services ahead of the games. Scandinavian Airlines and SWISS, for example, are ramping up frequencies to host cities.
Surinam Airways will operate three special eight-hour treks from the South American nation of Suriname to Miami in June, with two stops along the way to pick up people in Aruba and Curaçao; Curaçao’s team qualified. Tickets start at about $440 one-way.
GOL is adding hundreds of flights to Orlando and Miami during the tournament, where travelers can connect to matches through its codeshare partnership with American. Some flights are pricey: flights from Manaus, in northwestern Brazil, to Miami in the days before the team’s June 24 game there start at $765 one-way.
LATAM Brasil is also adding capacity around Brazil’s match schedule; the national team is the most successful in World Cup history, with five titles.
Colombia’s Avianca is adding some 3,000 flights to host cities to support the World Cup traffic. It’s also increasing frequencies on its Los Angeles routes from both Guatemala City and San Salvador. Colombia is one of South America’s top teams, and narrowly lost the 2024 Copa America to Argentina.
Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc is operating special flights to New York, Atlanta, and Boston for its team’s matches. Round-trip flights start around $1,000.
New and returning routes from Africa
In some cases, new flights are not launched explicitly for the World Cup, but the tournament coincides with already-strong demand on diaspora-heavy routes and a broader surge in travel to host cities.
The national airline of the small West African nation of Cabo Verde, for example, resumed nonstop flights to Rhode Island on May 4 after an eight-year hiatus — a month before its national team arrived in the US for its first-ever World Cup appearance.
The unique route, which is also the only link to the US for the 500,000 Cape Verdeans, is scheduled to continue beyond the tournament.
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Similarly, EgyptAir added a new route from Cairo to Los Angeles in May, a nearly 14-hour flight, and Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc launched a new 12-hour nonstop from Casablanca to Los Angeles on Sunday.
It’s the first time Africa has been connected nonstop to the US West Coast, meaning passengers can finally skip the long layovers in Asia or Europe.
This effectively extends the continent’s reach into North America ahead of the World Cup and, in the long term, benefits diaspora communities, business, and tourism.
The World Cup is taking place against a backdrop of sky-high oil prices, with airfares rising an estimated 20% in recent months.
Argentina’s national airline even canceled some planned World Cup service because of fuel prices and lower-than-expected demand driven by expensive match tickets.
The tournament is also facing immigration restrictions that denied a referee and some team staff entry to the US.
