The Daily
|
 In the news  Indicators  Releases by subject
 Special interest  Release schedule  Information

Quarterly civil aviation statistics, second quarter 2019

Warning View the most recent version.

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.

Released: 2019-11-21

Total operating revenue for the 26 largest Canadian air carriers totalled $6.9 billion in the second quarter, up 9.6% from the second quarter of 2018. The gain was largely attributable to higher operating revenue for passenger transportation. Passenger revenue accounted for 89.2% of total operating revenue, while goods revenue comprised 5.7%. Total operating expenses grew 5.2% to $6.4 billion.

The number of air carriers increased from 25 in 2018 to 26 in 2019, as one Level III air carrier was reclassified to Level II.

The operating ratio for the largest airlines—operating expenses expressed as a proportion of operating revenue—was 0.93 in the second quarter, a slight improvement from 0.97 in the second quarter of 2018. Overall, this means that these airlines incurred expenses of roughly 93 cents to generate one dollar in revenue.

Chart 1  Chart 1: Operating revenue and expenses, Canadian air carriers
Operating revenue and expenses, Canadian air carriers

The major airlines record positive net income for the second consecutive quarter

Net operating income more than doubled in the second quarter to $499.7 million. This amount, combined with a net non-operating loss of $37.6 million, produced a net income of $462.0 million.

Canadian Level I and II air carriers spent $1.7 billion to purchase turbo fuel, up 1.5% compared with the same quarter in 2018. They also paid $1.2 billion in wages, salaries and benefits (+5.7%) to their 63,043 employees. The average number of employees was up 2.7% over the second quarter of 2018. Other operating expenses (55.3%) accounted for the largest share of total operating expenses in the second quarter of 2019, followed by turbo fuel (26.3%) and wages, salaries and benefits (18.4%).

These airlines recorded a profit margin—net income divided by operating revenue—of 6.7%. In other words, every dollar of service sold in the second quarter earned 6.7 cents of profit for these carriers.

Operating revenue per employee rose 6.7% year over year to $109,593 in the second quarter. The level of labour productivity, as measured by tonne-kilometres flown per employee, edged down 0.2% compared with the second quarter of 2018 to 103,170 tonne-kilometres.

The number of passengers rises at a slower pace

The 26 Canadian air carriers carried 23.0 million passengers in the second quarter, up 2.3% from the second quarter of 2018. This followed a 5.7% gain in the first quarter of 2019 and represented the smallest increase in 10 quarters. The number of passengers flying on scheduled flights rose 2.0% to 22.4 million, while the passenger counts on chartered flights increased 12.7% to 573,000. Two of the three sectors posted gains. The domestic sector (within Canada) rose 2.6% to 12.1 million passengers, while the other international sector increased 5.0% to 5.9 million passengers. The transborder sector (between Canada and the United States) fell 1.7% to 4.9 million passengers, marking the first year-over-year quarterly decline in the last two and a half years.

Chart 2  Chart 2: Passengers carried, by sector, Canadian air carriers
Passengers carried, by sector, Canadian air carriers

Traffic and capacity for scheduled services both continued to increase in the second quarter, although at a much slower pace year over year compared with the previous nine quarters. Year over year, traffic was up 3.6% to 56.6 billion passenger-kilometres, while capacity rose 1.5% to 67.2 billion available seat-kilometres. These small increases were due largely to the grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft that began in mid-March.

With the gain in demand greater than the increase in capacity, carriers recorded a higher passenger load factor in the second quarter (84.2%) for their scheduled services than in the same quarter a year earlier (82.6%).

Chart 3  Chart 3: Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers
Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers

  Note to readers

This release covers Canadian Level I and II air carriers. The number of air carriers increased from 25 in 2018 to 26 in 2019, as one Level III air carrier was reclassified to Level II. This carrier is not included in the 2018 data.

Level I air carriers include every Canadian air carrier that, in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided, transported at least 2 million revenue passengers or at least 400 000 tonnes of cargo.

Level II air carriers include every Canadian air carrier that, in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided, transported (a) at least 100,000 but fewer than 2 million revenue passengers; or (b) at least 50 000 tonnes but less than 400 000 tonnes of cargo.

Net non-operating income and loss are from commercial ventures that are not part of the air transportation services; from other revenues and expenses attributable to financing or other activities that are not an integral part of air transportation; and from special recurrent items of a non-periodic nature. Provision for income taxes is also included. Non-operating income can be, for example, capital gains from the sale of aircraft, interest income and foreign exchange adjustment, while non-operating expenses can include capital losses and interest on bank loans and other debt.

Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted.

Data for the second and fourth quarters of 2018 and for the first quarter of 2019 have been revised.

Because of rounding, components may not add up to the total.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).

Report a problem on this page

Is something not working? Is there information outdated? Can't find what you're looking for?

Please contact us and let us know how we can help you.

Privacy notice

Date modified: