Air fares, third quarter 2018
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Released: 2019-03-27
$244.50
Third quarter 2018
-0.2% 
(year-over-year change)
Base air fares in Canada, domestic and international combined, averaged $244.50 in the third quarter, down 0.2% from the same quarter in 2017.
Base fares do not include the goods and services tax, air transportation taxes or user fees, such as airport improvement fees or fuel surcharges. Average air fares are calculated for each flight stage—that is, when the passenger boards the aircraft at one airport and departs the aircraft at another airport.
The average domestic fare was down 2.3% from the third quarter of 2017 to $167.50, while the average international fare decreased 0.4% to $325.00. This marked the second consecutive decline in international air fares.
Among the selected cities where passengers boarded the plane (enplanement), all cities posted decreases in average domestic air fares from the same quarter in 2017, with the exception of Montréal (+0.7%) and Halifax (+0.6%).
Vancouver ($193.00) overtook Toronto ($188.10) as the city with the highest domestic air fare in the third quarter of 2018. These two cities along with Halifax ($170.80) recorded average domestic fares above the national average. Meanwhile, Saskatoon ($152.40) posted the lowest average domestic air fare, followed by Calgary ($159.30) and Montréal ($159.40).
Chart 1
Average domestic and international air fares
Chart 2
Average domestic air fares for 10 major Canadian cities
Note to readers
Average air fares are base fares and do not include the goods and services tax, air transportation taxes or user fees, such as airport improvement fees or fuel surcharges. All fares in this release are base fares.
Average air fares are calculated for each flight stage. When the passenger boards the aircraft at one airport and departs the aircraft at another airport, this is considered a flight stage.
The Fare Basis Survey covers Air Canada (including Air Canada rouge, Jazz, Air Canada's Canadian regional code-share partners), Air Transat and WestJet.
The data in this quarterly release are not seasonally adjusted.
The Fare Basis Survey is being redesigned.
Contact information
For more information, 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).
For more information on the current definitions, data sources and methods of the Fare Basis Survey, click on the Related information tab of this release. Readers who wish to know more, or to consult with Statistics Canada about the redesign of this survey, can contact us (statcan.transportationstats-statistiquesdutransport.statcan@canada.ca).
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