Monthly civil aviation statistics, October 2022

Released: 2022-12-21

Highlights

Major Canadian airlines carried 6.0 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in October, almost double the number of passengers carried in the same month in 2021 and 90.6% of the October 2019 level, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The passenger load factor (the ratio of passenger-kilometres to available seat-kilometres) was 81.5% in October 2022, higher than the 81.0% recorded in October 2019, before the pandemic.

The $1.9 billion operating revenue earned in October was 98.1% of that earned in October 2019, before the pandemic.

Remaining travel restrictions end

On October 1, all COVID-19 border restrictions, including vaccination, mandatory use of the ArriveCAN app, and any testing and quarantine requirements, were removed for all travellers entering Canada.

Recovery progresses in October

Canadian Level I air carriers flew 6.0 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in October, reaching 90.6% of the pre-pandemic level reported in October 2019. This was the first time 90% recovery proportion was reached since the pandemic began.

Infographic 1 
Passengers carried by Canadian Level I air carriers, monthly, 2019 to 2022

Typically, passenger volumes decline from September to October, with the decrease averaging 4.5% in the years 2015 to 2019, before the pandemic. In 2022, passenger numbers were essentially the same in both months. However, the number of passenger-kilometres and available seat-kilometres both declined, as the average distance decreases with the transition from summer to winter flight schedules.

With traffic at 15.5 billion passenger-kilometres and capacity at 19.0 billion available seat-kilometres, the passenger load factor was 81.5% in October, higher than the 81.0% load factor recorded in October 2019. This marked the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that the load factor was discernibly above the equivalent month of 2019.

Each passenger travelled an average of 2,584 kilometres in October, down 1.2% from October 2019.

At 155,000, the number of flying hours in October was 87.1% of the pre-pandemic level.

Operating revenue earned by Level I air carriers totalled $1.9 billion in October, amounting to 98 cents for every dollar earned in the same month of 2019.

Chart 1 
Passengers carried, Canadian air carriers, Level I

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

Chart 3 
Turbo fuel consumed, Canadian air carriers, Level I

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).