Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics, September 2024
Released: 2024-11-26
Highlights
In September, aircraft movements at Canada's major and select small airports totalled 521,288, up 2.3% from September 2023. Itinerant movements increased 1.1% year over year to 364,689 in September 2024 while local movements rose 5.3% to 156,599.
At the same time, major Canadian airlines flew 7.1 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in September, with a passenger load factor of 82.9%.
Consult the Aviation Data Visualization Hub to explore aircraft movement statistics and monthly civil aviation statistics in an interactive format.
Domestic movements remain flat
In September, there were 311,095 domestic movements, relatively unchanged from the previous year for the second consecutive month. Increases in flight training activities accounted for large gains at several airports; for example, movements at Red Deer Regional Airport almost doubled year over year (+85.0%).
Chart 1
Total aircraft movements at major and select small airports, by class of operation
In contrast, domestic movements at Vancouver International Airport were down, due in part to the cessation of operations of two carriers during the year. In addition, air traffic at the airports in Kamloops and Penticton was lower in September 2024, with fewer fire suppression activities when compared with the historic wildfires in 2023.
In September 2024, transborder movements (to and from the United States) rose 8.0% from the previous year to reach 38,545. Other international traffic (outside the United States) increased 5.8% year over year to 15,049. This level of activity was higher than the comparative pre-COVID-19 pandemic level (+2.3%).
Airports in British Columbia reported the largest number of aircraft movements (143,668) in September 2024, virtually unchanged from the level reported in September 2023, while movements in Ontario fell 4.2% to 127,546. Toronto/Lester B. Pearson remained the busiest Canadian airport with traffic edging up slightly year over year (+0.9%) to reach 32,939 movements in September 2024.
Major airlines' operating and financial statistics
The seven Canadian Level I air carriers flew 7.1 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in September 2024, 5.3% more than in September 2023, when there were six Level I carriers. One Level II air carrier was reclassified to Level I in 2024.
In September, the number of passenger-kilometres was 20.0 billion, with a capacity of 24.1 billion available seat-kilometres. As a result, the passenger load factor (the ratio of passenger-kilometres to available seat-kilometres) was 82.9%, down sharply from the 87.2% recorded in the same month one year earlier.
Chart 2
Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers, Level I
Each passenger travelled an average of 2,829 kilometres in September, down 1.0% from September 2023.
Level I carriers flew 183,000 hours in September 2024. Their total operating revenue was $2.5 billion, declining year over year.
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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 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.
On July 11, 2024, the flight service station at Peace River, British Columbia, was officially closed. Starting in August 2024, movements for Peace River Airport are excluded from the Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics. Data prior to August 2024 will continue to be available.
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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