Aircraft movement statistics: Major airports, October 2021
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Released: 2022-01-04
404,663
October 2021
14.5% 
(year-over-year change)
Highlights
In October, there were 404,663 aircraft movements at Canada's major airports. While this was an increase of 14.5% from October 2020, it was 21.7% lower than in October 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
International movements continued to rise in October, with those to and from the United States reaching 21,441 and other international movements hitting 7,750. At more than one-half (51.2% and 58.5%, respectively) of the levels from October 2019, this is the closest traffic has been to pre-pandemic levels since March 2020.
Movements to and from the United States rose sharply at Abbotsford and Montréal/St-Hubert, two airports where services were available to fly Canadians across the border while their vehicles were shipped by land.
Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International was Canada's busiest airport, followed by Vancouver International and Abbotsford.
Movements up, but remain below pre-pandemic levels
Total aircraft movements (take-offs and landings) at the 90 Canadian airports equipped with NAV CANADA towers and flight service stations were 404,663 in October, an increase of 14.5% from October 2020. Itinerant movements were up 29.4% to 267,047, while local movements dropped 6.5% to 137,616.
Compared with October 2019, before the pandemic, total movements were down 21.7%. Itinerant movements declined by 24.3%, while local movements fell 16.2%.
Chart 1
Total aircraft movements at major airports, by class of operation
On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and, in the months that followed, total aircraft movements remained well below historical levels. Unless otherwise specified, comparisons are made with the same month of 2019 (also referred to as "pre-pandemic"), when aircraft movement levels were in line with historical trends.
International growth continues
Domestic movements (within Canada) totalled 237,856 in October, or 79.9% of the level from October 2019. This is down slightly from September, when total domestic movements were 83.9% of the pre-pandemic level (from September 2019).
Domestic movements by Level I-III and foreign carriers were 125,082, little changed from the previous month and was at three-quarters (75.0%) of the pre-pandemic level from October 2019.
Chart 2
Domestic movements at major airports, 2019 to 2021
Unseasonably, international traffic continued to increase in October. On a monthly basis, traffic to and from the United States grew 22.8% from September, when historically it edged down an average of 0.2% between 2015 and 2019. Other international traffic climbed 20.5% from September, in contrast with an average decline of 8.6% (between 2015 and 2019).
Transborder traffic (flights to and from the United States) reached 21,441 movements, just over half (51.2%) the amount recorded in October 2019 and an improvement from September when it was 42.1% of the September 2019 level.
Infographic 1
Transborder movements at major airports, 2019 to 2021
Other international traffic was at 7,750 movements, 58.5% of the pre-pandemic level from October 2019. This represents a significant improvement from September, when it was 44.2% of the September 2019 amount.
Despite this growth, sustained recovery remains uncertain. In late November 2021, the WHO declared a new variant of concern, Omicron, prompting Canada to implement new travel restrictions as well as applying a travel ban to a list of nations.
While data in this release do not yet reflect Omicron's impact on international travel, the most recent data for aircraft movements can be found in the Weekly aircraft movement statistics.
Infographic 2
Other international movements at major airports, 2019 to 2021
Snowbirds fly south, while United States land border closed
In October, the United States government announced it would re-open its land border for non-essential travel in November to fully vaccinated travellers, including Canadians, for the first time since March 2020. During the closure, Canadian travellers were permitted to enter the United States by air and some businesses offered services to transport Canadians across the border.
With winter approaching and travel restrictions eased for fully vaccinated Canadians, transborder aircraft movements rose sharply at several airports where hired services were available to fly Canadian snowbirds to the United States while their vehicles were shipped by land.
For example, Abbotsford and Montréal/St-Hubert—two airports where this service was available—saw transborder traffic rise above pre-pandemic levels in October to levels significantly higher than those reported during the fall/winter of 2020/2021, when travel restrictions were still in place and before vaccines were widely available.
Chart 3
Transborder movements at Abbotsford and Montréal/St-Hubert
Pearson remains on top
With commercial airlines ramping up schedules and international movements climbing, Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International was Canada's busiest airport again in October, with 23,058 movements. It was followed by Vancouver International (19,008) and Abbotsford (14,971).
Chart 4
Total aircraft movements at the top 10 Canadian airports in October, 2019 to 2021
Note to readers
The Aircraft Movement Statistics: Major Airports Survey collects data on itinerant and local aircraft movements at major airports in Canada.
Major airports include all airports with either a NAV CANADA air traffic control tower or a NAV CANADA flight service station.
On November 5, 2020, NAV CANADA recognized the increase in air traffic at Red Deer Regional Airport in Alberta before the COVID-19 pandemic and changed its status from a flight service station to offer air traffic control services at the airport for 16 hours per day. As a result, effective November 1, 2020, monthly aircraft movement data for the airport are available in tables 23-10-0002-01 to 23-10-0008-01 (airports with NAV CANADA towers). Data prior to November 2020 remain available in tables 23-10-0009-01 to 23-10-0015-01 (airports with NAV CANADA flight service stations).
An aircraft movement is defined as a take-off, landing or simulated approach by an aircraft, as defined by NAV CANADA.
Data for October 2020 may have been revised.
The data in this monthly release are not seasonally adjusted.
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; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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