Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics, June 2024
Released: 2024-08-29
Highlights
In June, aircraft movements at Canada's major and select small airports totalled 520,024, up 2.6% from June 2023. Itinerant movements increased 2.5% year over year to 367,247 in June 2024, while local movements rose 3.1% to 152,777.
At the same time, major Canadian airlines flew 7.5 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in June, with a passenger load factor of 86.5%.
Consult the new Aviation Data Visualization Hub to explore aircraft movement statistics and monthly civil aviation statistics in an interactive format.
Aircraft movements increase in all sectors
Aircraft movements increased in all sectors in June 2024, compared with the same month in 2023.
Chart 1
Total aircraft movements at major and select small airports, by class of operation
Other international movements (outside the United States) were up 11.8% in June 2024 from a year earlier to 15,506, and slightly above the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level in June 2019 (+0.7%). Transborder movements to and from the United States increased 11.2% to 39,045 in June 2024, the largest year-over-year increase in the transborder sector in over a year.
Domestic movements edged up 1.0% year over year to 312,696 in June. The largest gain was reported at the Fort Nelson, British Columbia, airport, where the number of movements more than tripled from the previous year, because of ongoing wildfire suppression activity by smaller carriers classified as Level IV to VI.
A higher number of aircraft movements was reported in nine provinces and territories in June, with the largest growth in New Brunswick (+5,849 movements). This reflects more flight school activity at Fredericton International and Moncton/Greater Moncton International airports. For the fourth consecutive month, airports in British Columbia had the highest number of movements, with 152,263 in June, up 2.5% from the previous year.
Major airlines' operating and financial statistics
The seven largest (Level I) Canadian air carriers flew 7.5 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in June, 8.4% more than in June 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 June was 20.9 billion, while airline capacity was 24.2 billion available seat-kilometres. As a result, the passenger load factor (the ratio of passenger-kilometres to available seat-kilometres) was 86.5%, down from the same month last year (87.8%).
Chart 2
Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers, Level I
Each passenger travelled an average of 2,796 kilometres in June, slightly lower than the average distance of 2,812 kilometres in June 2023.
Level I carriers flew 187,000 hours in June 2024 and generated $2.7 billion in total operating revenue.
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Note to readers
As of reference month January 2024, Statistics Canada publishes a new consolidated monthly release called "Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics." The new release covers the following survey programs:
- Aircraft movement statistics (survey number 2715, tables 23-10-0296-01 to 23-10-0304-01)
- Monthly civil aviation statistics (survey number 5026, table 23-10-0079-01).
The tables associated with the above survey programs remain unchanged and will be updated as usual. Definitions, data sources and methods for each survey program remain available by accessing each survey's respective number.
Consult the new Aviation Data Visualization Hub to explore data from Aircraft movement statistics and Monthly civil aviation statistics in an interactive format.
The aviation statistics program uses respondent (Monthly civil aviation statistics) and administrative (Aircraft movement statistics) data.
An aircraft movement is defined as a take-off, landing or simulated approach by an aircraft, as defined by NAV CANADA.
An itinerant movement is the initial take-off or the final landing of an aircraft.
A local movement is an aircraft conducting the following airport activities: touch-and-go, stop-and-go, simulated approach without landing, low approach, pull up while on final approach or missed approach. Local movements are often carried out during training flights (touch-and-go), equipment tests, etc.
The Monthly Civil Aviation Survey covers all Canadian Level I air carriers: Air Canada (including Air Canada Rouge), Air Transat, Flair, Jazz, Porter, Sunwing and WestJet (including WestJet Encore and WestJet Link). The number of air carriers increased from six in 2023 to seven in 2024 because one Level II air carrier was reclassified to Level I.
The average passenger trip length is calculated by dividing the number of passenger-kilometres by the number of passengers. Trips across Canada and around the world are included in this calculation.
The data in this monthly release are not seasonally adjusted.
Data are subject to revisions.
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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