Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics, December 2025
Released: 2026-02-26
Highlights
Major Canadian airlines flew 7.3 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in December, edging down 0.4% from December 2024.
Aircraft movements at Canada's major and select small airports totalled 324,103 in December 2025, down 7.8% from the same month in the previous year. Local movements fell 21.1% year over year, while itinerant movements decreased 3.0%.
In 2025, there were a total of 5.8 million aircraft movements at Canada's major and select small airports. This was 3.1% higher than in 2024 and represented 95.0% of the movements recorded in 2019.
Consult the Aviation Data Visualization Hub to explore aircraft movement statistics and monthly civil aviation statistics in an interactive format.
Major airlines' operating and financial statistics
Canadian Level I air carriers flew 7.3 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in December, 0.4% fewer than in December 2024.
The number of passenger-kilometres rose 2.1% year over year to 20.0 billion in December 2025, while capacity increased 5.4% to 24.8 billion available seat-kilometres. The passenger load factor (the ratio of passenger-kilometres to available seat-kilometres) was 80.6% in December, down from 83.2% in December 2024.
Chart 1
Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers, Level I
Each passenger travelled an average of 2,739 kilometres in December 2025, up 2.5% from the same month a year earlier.
Level I carriers flew 198,000 hours (+3.1%) in December and generated $2.9 billion (-0.5%) in total operating revenue.
In 2025, Canadian Level I air carriers transported 87.1 million passengers, down slightly (-0.4%) from the year before, while the number of passenger-kilometres increased 0.9% to 241.2 billion. The overall passenger load factor for the year was 83.7%, down from 84.9% in 2024. Total operating revenue rose 1.1% to $30.8 billion in 2025.
Decrease in local and domestic itinerant movements in December
In December, a decrease in flight school activity at Canada's major and select small airports contributed to the 21.1% year-over-year decline in local movements to 73,718. Decreases were recorded in a total of 10 provinces and territories, with the largest declines in British Columbia (-7,912 movements) and Alberta (-5,226).
Chart 2
Total aircraft movements at major and select small airports, by class of operation
At the same time, domestic itinerant movements decreased 3.6% compared with December 2024 to 198,125 in December 2025. The airports with the largest declines were Calgary/Springbank (-1,685 movements), Fredericton International (-1,290) and Boundary Bay (-1,142).
Transborder movements (to and from the United States) continued to decline in December, down 5.3% from December 2024 to 32,086. Meanwhile, other international traffic (outside the United States) reached 20,174 movements in December, up 8.5% from the same month the previous year—the largest monthly year-over-year increase in 2025.
Year in review for 2025: wildfires and aircraft movements
Following the record-breaking wildfire season of 2023, the Government of Canada confirmed 2025 as the second worst wildfire season in Canadian history. By the end of September 2025, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported wildfires had burned 8.9 million hectares across Canada, almost double the size recorded in 2024. Due in large part to increased wildfire control efforts, total aircraft traffic in 2025 was significantly higher in Lloydminster, Alberta (+59.7%; +3,197 movements), Kenora, Ontario (+36.5%; +3,303 movements), and The Pas, Manitoba (+30.1%; +935 movements) compared with the previous year.
In 2025, total aircraft movements were up 3.1% from the previous year to 5.8 million, with increases in both local (+89,753 movements; +5.2%) and itinerant (+87,150; +2.2%) movements. Domestic itinerant movements were up 2.8% year over year to 3.4 million in 2025. At the same time, other international (outside the United States) activity increased 4.3% to 209,996. In contrast, transborder movements fell 3.0% to 421,511 in 2025—the first annual year-over-year decrease for this sector since 2021.
Focus on Canada and the United States
Transborder aircraft movements (to and from the United States) represented 12.8% of total itinerant movements at Canada's major and select small airports in December 2025, down from 13.1% in December 2024.
In December 2025, year-over-year declines in movements to and from the United States were recorded at all four of the largest Canadian airports: Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (-3.9%), Vancouver International (-12.5%), Montréal/Pierre Elliot Trudeau International (-8.4%) and Calgary International (-2.0%).
Meanwhile, the number of passengers carried by Canadian Level I air carriers on scheduled transborder flights in December 2025 was 17.1% below the level recorded in the same month of the previous year. This was the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year declines. The capacity of these flights, measured in available seat-kilometres, declined year over year for the ninth consecutive month in December, down 15.7% from December 2024. The passenger load factor on scheduled transborder flights decreased from 81.5% in December 2024 to 77.4% in December 2025.
For more data and insights on areas touched by the socioeconomic relationship between Canada and the United States, see the Focus on Canada and the United States webpage.
Note to readers
This consolidated monthly release covers the following statistical 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).
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 domestic itinerant movement is defined as a movement, at a Canadian airport, of an aircraft departing to or arriving from a point in Canada.
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 June 2, 2025, Stephenville Airport in Newfoundland and Labrador was closed. Since June 2025, movements for Stephenville Airport are excluded from Aircraft movement statistics. Data prior to June 2025 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 and WestJet (including WestJet Encore). As of June 2025, Sunwing Airlines was fully integrated into WestJet.
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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