Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics, February 2026
Released: 2026-04-30
Highlights
Major Canadian airlines flew 6.6 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in February, up 1.7% from February 2025.
Aircraft movements at Canada's major and select small airports totalled 379,924 in February 2026, up 9.8% from the same month one year earlier. Local movements increased 14.3% year over year, while itinerant movements rose 7.8%.
Consult the Aviation Data Visualization Hub to explore aircraft movement statistics and monthly civil aviation statistics in an interactive format.
Air travel grows in February
Canadian Level I air carriers flew 6.6 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in February, 1.7% more than in February 2025.
The number of passenger-kilometres rose 4.8% year over year to 18.3 billion in February 2026, while capacity increased 3.1% to 21.4 billion available seat-kilometres. The passenger load factor (the ratio of passenger-kilometres to available seat-kilometres) was 85.3% in February, up from 84.0% observed in February 2025.
Chart 1
Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers, Level I
Each passenger travelled an average of 2,771 kilometres in February 2026, up 3.0% from the same month a year earlier.
Level I carriers flew 174,000 hours (+2.4%) in February and generated $2.4 billion (+13.5%) in total operating revenue.
Local and domestic itinerant movements rise in February
An increase in flight school activity at Canada's major and select small airports contributed to the year-over-year increase (+14.3%) in local movements in February. Airports in British Columbia (+6,234 movements), Quebec (+5,370), and Ontario (+3,732) saw the largest gains.
Chart 2
Total aircraft movements at major and select small airports, by class of operation
Domestic itinerant movements, also influenced by increased flight school activity, climbed 9.4% year over year in February 2026, reaching 211,702. The airports with the largest increases were Abbotsford, British Columbia (+1,810 movements), Montréal (St-Hubert)/Montréal Metropolitan, Quebec (+1,266) and Langley, British Columbia (+1,175).
In contrast, transborder movements (to and from the United States) declined for the 11th consecutive month in February, falling 3.6% year over year to 28,694. Meanwhile, other international traffic (outside the United States) was up 9.5% to 18,638 movements, the 12th consecutive year-over-year increase in this sector. International movements were strong, despite Canadian carriers suspending flights to Cuba in mid-February due to an ongoing fuel shortage in the country.
Focus on Canada and the United States
Transborder aircraft movements (to and from the United States) represented 11.1% of total itinerant movements at Canada's major and select small airports in February 2026, down from 12.4% in February 2025.
In February 2026, year-over-year declines in movements to and from the United States were recorded at three of the four largest Canadian airports: Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (-0.1%), Montréal/Pierre Elliot Trudeau International (-4.4%) and Calgary International (-5.1%). Conversely, Vancouver International posted a year-over-year increase of 2.0%.
Meanwhile, the number of passengers carried by Canadian Level I air carriers on scheduled transborder flights in February 2026 was 12.5% below the level recorded in the same month a year earlier. This was the 13th consecutive month of year-over-year declines. The capacity of these flights, measured in available seat-kilometres, declined year over year for the 11th consecutive month, down 13.6% from February 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 web page.
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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