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1. In 2015, Canadian Level I and II air carriers reported 73.5 million passengers in their scheduled and charter operations, up 4.8% from 2014. The passenger counts on scheduled flights reached 72.0 million (+6.8%), while the number of passengers flying on chartered flights declined 44.8% to 1.5 million, as a major charter carrier, CanJet Airlines, suspended its services on September 1, 2015. Scheduled services saw a growth in passengers carried over 2014 in each of the four quarters; conversely, charter services saw a decline in passengers carried in all four quarters of 2015. The scheduled passenger counts totalled 19.8 million in the third quarter of 2015, the highest number ever recorded for a quarter, surpassing the 18.5 million reported in the same quarter of 2014.
2. In 2015, these carriers recorded 174.5 billion passenger-kilometres flown in their scheduled and charter operations, up 5.6% from the previous year. Scheduled services accounted for 98.8% of the demand for travel, as measured by passenger-kilometres.
3. These same carriers reported a slight decline in their scheduled passenger load factor (a measure of the fullness of their aircraft) compared to 2014. The load factor decreased from 82.5% in 2014 to 82.1% in 2015, as the demand for travel, as measured by passenger-kilometres, advanced at a slightly slower pace (+7.8%) than the supply (capacity), as measured by available seat-kilometres (+8.3%). In 2015, these carriers recorded their highest passenger load factor on scheduled flights in the third quarter (85.2%) and their lowest, in the fourth quarter (79.4%).
4. Total operating revenues in 2015 reached $21.3 billion, up 2.4% (+$502.2 million) from 2014, reflecting growth in the first three quarters. Passenger revenues accounted for 88.5% of total operating revenues, down from 89.2% the year before. The increase in operating revenues was mainly due to traffic growth of 5.6% partly offset by a yield (passenger revenues per passenger-kilometre) decline of 3.8%.
5. In 2015, total operating expenses amounted to $19.0 billion, down 1.8% (-$355.9 million) from the previous year, largely because of lower fuel costs. This decrease was largely offset by the impact of the capacity growth and the unfavourable impact of a weaker Canadian dollar on foreign currency denominated operating expenses.
6. Canadian Level I and II air carriers reported net operating income of $2.4 billion in 2015, up from $1.5 billion the previous year following year-over-year increases in all four quarters.
7. Net income (net operating income plus net non-operating income) rose 93.5% to $1.1 billion in 2015 from $588.3 million in 2014, marking the fourth increase in six years. This improvement in profitability was largely accounted for by the increase in net operating income of $638.8 million in the first and third quarters of 2015 combined. However, the rise in net non-operating loss from $909.8 million in 2014 to $1.2 billion in 2015 dampened the increase in net income.
8. From the first quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2015, the operating ratio (which reflects a carrier's ability to meet its short-term obligations and represents the proportion of operating revenue absorbed by operating expenses) ranged between 0.81 in the third quarter and 0.94 in the fourth quarter. Overall, this means that the carriers earned 19.0 cents of profit for every dollar spent in the third quarter of 2015 and 6.0 cents of profit in the fourth quarter. An operating ratio greater than 1.00 would indicate that these carriers experienced an operating loss.
9. For the four quarters of 2015, the highest profit margin (11.5%) was recorded in the third quarter. The profit margin represents the profit earned per revenue dollar and is obtained by dividing net income by operating revenue, with this ratio being expressed as a percentage. In other words, every dollar of service sold in the third quarter earned 11.5 cents of profit for the carriers. The negative profit margin for the fourth quarter (-1.6%) reflected the strong increase in non-operating expenses, which offset the gain in net operating income. While the third quarter produced the highest profit margin in 2015, the most notable increase occurred in the first quarter (from -5.4% in 2014 to +0.5% in 2015).
10. In 2015, operating revenue per employee varied from $95,766 in the fourth quarter to $122,988 in the third quarter. This employee productivity measure showed year-over-year increases from 2014 to 2015 in each of the first three quarters, with the gains ranging from 2.0% in the second quarter to 4.3% in the first quarter, before declining by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Another method of assessing productivity in the aviation industry is to calculate tonne-kilometres flown per employee. According to this measure, labour productivity in 2015 bettered the previous level in each of the four quarters. The increases ranged from 1.3% in the fourth quarter to 5.6% in the third quarter. As in the previous year, the tonne-kilometres flown per employee were highest in the third quarter, at 113,541.
11. Total employment reported by Canadian Level I and II air carriers rose in all but the second quarter of 2015 compared to the previous year, with the gains ranging from 0.2% in the first quarter to 1.8% in the fourth quarter. In the second quarter, it remained virtually unchanged (-25 employees) at 50,176 employees. The string of quarterly year-over-year increases in total wages and salaries paid that began in the fourth quarter of 2005 (except for the fourth quarter of 2013) continued in each quarter of 2015. Increases ranged from 3.0% in the first quarter to 10.4% in the second quarter. Overall, the total amount paid in wages and salaries in 2015 rose 5.8% to $3.7 billion.