Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics, March 2024

Released: 2024-05-28

Highlights

In March, Canada's major and select small airports recorded a total of 444,180 aircraft movements, virtually unchanged (-0.3%) from March 2023. Local movements declined 1.4% year over year to 144,524, partially offset by a 0.3% increase in itinerant movements, which rose to 299,656.

At the same time, major Canadian airlines flew 7.6 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in March 2024, with the passenger load factor at 86.1%.

Consult the new Aviation Data Visualization Hub to explore aircraft movement statistics and monthly civil aviation statistics in an interactive format.

Local and domestic movements lag

Local aircraft movements decreased 1.4% in March, compared with the same month in 2023. Declines were reported in 6 of the 13 provinces and territories, with the largest drop in Alberta (-3,409 movements).

Chart 1 
Total aircraft movements at major and select small airports, by class of operation

Itinerant domestic movements declined 1.2% to 244,838 in March 2024, compared with March 2023. The decline was experienced across all types of operations. As reported in the latest release of "Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports," the number of passengers screened for domestic flights was down in March 2024.

By contrast, other international traffic (outside the United States) in March was up 14.6% year over year, reaching 19,413 movements. Over the same period, transborder movements to and from the United States increased 4.3% to 35,405. There was a notable gain at Victoria International (+79.4%), which reported more movements to and from Seattle, Washington.

In March, the volume of aircraft movements was highest for airports in British Columbia (126,444 movements), overtaking those in Ontario (114,233), which had held the top spot for four consecutive months. Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International remained the busiest airport in Canada, with 32,872 movements, a year-over-year increase of 6.1%, on the strength of international movements.

Major airlines' operating and financial statistics

The seven Canadian Level I air carriers flew 7.6 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in March, 12.2% more than in March 2023, when there were six Level I carriers. One Level II air carrier was reclassified to Level I in 2024.

The number of passenger-kilometres in March was 20.5 billion and capacity was 23.8 billion available seat-kilometres. As a result, the passenger load factor (the ratio of passenger-kilometres to available seat-kilometres) was 86.1%, down slightly from 86.7% recorded in the same month a year earlier.

Chart 2 
Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers, Level I

Each passenger travelled an average of 2,707 kilometres in March, up 2.9% from March 2023.

Level I carriers flew 193,000 hours in March 2024 and generated $2.7 billion in total operating revenue.

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).