Aviation
Airport Activity: Air Carrier Traffic at Canadian Airports, 2023

Highlights

In 2023, air passenger traffic in Canada soared to nearly 93% of the 2019 pre-COVID-19 pandemic level, with the number of passengers enplaned and deplaned at Canadian airports growing almost 27% year-over-year to 150.7 million.

Canada’s four largest airports saw consistent gains in passenger traffic in 2023. Toronto/Lester B Pearson International, Vancouver International, Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International and Calgary International each reported at least a 24% increase in passenger traffic from 2022.

Please consult the new Aviation Data Visualization Hub to further explore airport activity statistics in an interactive format.

Passenger confidence up

Passenger confidence was strengthened in 2023, the first full year without any pandemic-related government travel restrictions in place. An easing of pandemic-induced labour and supply challenges along with the industry’s ability to deliver more consistent levels of service, contributed to the growing demand for travel.

Demand increased over the year with the number of domestic passengers increasing by 18.8%, up 13.6 million from 2022. Transborder traffic (Canada-United States) and other international traffic both saw significant gains as well. Transborder traffic increased by 37.4% (+7.8 million passengers) and overseas traffic was up 40.7% (+10.4 million passengers) from 2022.

Canada’s busiest airports

In 2023, the four busiest airports accounted for over two-thirds (70.6%) of all passenger traffic in Canada including over half (54.7%) of all domestic traffic and much larger shares of transborder (89.4%) and other international traffic (93.5 %).

As the world was eager to reconnect using air travel, Toronto’s Lester B Pearson International continued to maintain its position as Canada’s busiest airport. Passenger traffic increased 24.8% going from 35.0 million passengers in 2022 to 43.7 million passengers in 2023. Growth in passenger traffic was strong for all sectors with domestic traffic increasing 15.2%, transborder traffic increasing 30.6% and international traffic increasing 31.6%.

Vancouver International also saw strong growth in passenger traffic in 2023, up 30.3% to 24.3 million enplaned and deplaned passengers from 18.6 million in 2022. As with Toronto, Vancouver International saw large year-over-year increases in all sectors with domestic, transborder and international traffic up 20.2%, 37.1% and 49.8% respectively.

Maintaining its position as Canada’s third busiest airport, Montréal/Pierre Elliot Trudeau International also saw significant increases in passenger traffic. As passengers continued to return to the skies, Montréal Trudeau saw 20.4 million passengers enplaned and deplaned in 2023, up 31.4% from 15.5 million passengers in 2022. With international travel restrictions completely lifted, transborder and international traffic was up 36.1% and 37.5% respectively. Domestic traffic at Montréal increased 20.1%.

Rounding out the top four, Calgary International saw traffic up 28.2% in 2023, with 18.0 million passengers enplaning and deplaning at the airport. Of the top four airports, Calgary International had the fastest growth in all sectors. Domestic traffic increased 20.5% from 2022, with transborder and other international traffic growing even more quickly at 46.4% and 53.2% respectively.

Consumer confidence down

As with the decline in global air cargo tonnage reported by Airports Council International, Canadian air cargo shipments were also dampened in 2023 by declining consumer confidence and softening demand due to a variety of economic and geopolitical factors such as inflation, high interest rates and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East which led to subsequent supply chain disruptions.

Some Canadian carriers had to adapt to lower cargo volumes following the expected decrease in air cargo activity when some of the transitory pandemic-influenced growth in cargo demand eased. However, despite this decline, the total tonnages loaded and unloaded in Canada in 2023 remained above the pre-pandemic level.

Overall, the amount of cargo loaded and unloaded at Canadian airports decreased by 2.6% in 2023. Domestic cargo decreased 4.0% from 2022 to 690 000 tonnes in 2023. Transborder cargo fell 1.2% (to 251 000 tonnes) while other international cargo fell by 1.5% (to 494 000 tonnes).

The decrease in cargo volume that was transported through Canadian airports was echoed by a 15.8% decrease in annualized quarterly goods revenue earned by the Canadian airline industry in 2023.

Looking ahead

While demand for air travel was strong in 2023 and continued to propel the Canadian airline industry towards recovery of its 2019 passenger traffic volume, it stopped short of reaching a full return to pre-pandemic levels. As airport activity continues into 2024, there is hope that passenger traffic could make a full recovery. Data from screened passenger traffic at Canada's eight largest airports support this as passenger counts continued to rise into 2024.

Note to Users

Cargo data

It is important to note that the air cargo data presented does not represent the total cargo loaded and unloaded in Canada. Comprehensive cargo data are not collected for the following reasons:

• the regional and local scheduled carriers do not file cargo data on the airport activity survey and,
• the major charter survey does not collect data on domestic courier cargo or domestic entity cargo flights.

Passenger flights which carry cargo on them are classified as passenger flights. The cargo carried on these passenger flights is defined as belly-hold cargo. The belly-hold cargo data are included with the pure cargo data in the cargo table, Table 23-10-0254-01.

Services offered by carriers

Scheduled Services

• ABX Air
• Aer Lingus
• Aeromexico
• Air Algerie
• Air Canada
• Air Canada Rouge
• Air China
• Air Creebec
• Air France
• Air India
• Air Inuit
• Air Montmagny
• Air New Zealand
• Air North
• Air St Pierre
• Air Tindi Ltd.
• Air Transat
• Air Wisconsin
• Aklak Air
• All Nippon Airways
• American Airlines
• Amik Aviation
• Arajet
• Austrian Airlines
• Avianca
• Avianca Costa Rica
• Bearskin Airlines
• Biman Bangladesh Airlines
• Bradley Air Services Limited
• British Airways
• Calm Air
• Canada Jetlines
• Canadian North
• Cargojet
• Cargolux
• Caribbean Airlines
• Carson Air
• Castle Aviation
• Cathay Pacific Airways
• Central Mountain Air
• Champlain Enterprises
• China Airlines
• China Eastern Airlines
• China Southern Airlines
• Condor Flugdienst
• Copa Airlines
• CorilAir
• Corsair International
• Delta Air Lines
• Discover Airlines
• Edelweiss Air
• EgyptAir
• Emirates Airlines
• Endeavor Air
• Envoy Air
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Etihad Airways
• EVA Air
• FedEx
• Fiji Airways
• Flair Airlines
• GoJet Airlines
• Gulf Island Seaplanes
• Hainan Airlines
• Harbour Air
• Horizon Air
• Icelandair
• Iskwew Air
• Japan Airlines
• Jazz Air Inc.
• JDR Pacific Ventures
• Kenmore Air
• KF Aerospace
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
• Korean Air
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Lufthansa German Airlines
• Lynx Air
• McMurray Aviation
• Mesa Airlines
• Morningstar Air Express Inc.
• Neos Air
• North Star Air
• Northway Aviation
• Northwestern Air Lease
• Northwright Air
• Omni Air International
• Pacific Coastal Airlines
• Pakistan International
• Pascan Aviation
• Perimeter Aviation
• Philippine Airlines
• Piedmont Airlines
• Play Airlines
• Porter Airlines Inc.
• Provincial Airlines
• PSA Airlines
• Qantas Airways
• Qatar Airways
• Republic Airways
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• SATA Internacional
• Seair Seaplanes
• Sharp-Tail Air Ltd.
• Sichuan Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• Sky West Airlines
• Skyjet Aviation Canada
• Skylink Express
• Sunwing Airlines
• Swiss International Air Lines
• Swoop
• TAP Air Portugal
• Thunder Airlines
• Tofino Air
• Transwest Air
• Tunisair
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines
• United Parcel Service
• VIH Execujet
• Wasaya Airways
• WestJet
• WestJet Encore
• Wilderness Seaplanes
• Xiamen Airlines

Major Charter Services

• Acass Canada
• Air Alsie
• Air Canada
• Air Canada Rouge
• Air Creebec
• Air Foyle
• Air Hamburg
• Air Inuit
• Air St Pierre
• AirNet II
• American Air Services
• Ameristar Air Cargo
• Anderson Air
• Atlas Air
• Aurora Jet Partners
• Aviation Consultants
• Bearskin Airlines
• Borajet Airlines
• Buffalo Airways
• Canada Jetlines
• Canadian North
• Central Mountain Air
• Chantilly Air
• Chartright Air
• Chrono Aviation
• Chrono Jet
• Cirrus Aviation Services
• Clay Lacy Aviation
• Delta Air Lines
• Egyptair
• Elite Jets
• EVAS Air
• Execaire
• Executive Flight Services
• Executive Fliteways
• Fast Air Ltd.
• Flexjet
• Flightexec
• Gestair
• Global Aviation
• Goodjet
• Hamilton Jetport
• Haute Aviation
• Hop-a-jet
• Houston JetDirect
• IFL Group
• Image Air Charter
• Jazz Aviation
• Jet Access Aviation
• Jet Concierge Club
• Jetstream Aviation
• Kalitta Air
• Kenn Borek Air
• Korean Air
• London Air Services
• Lynden Air Cargo
• McNeely Charter Service Inc.
• Mira Vista Aviation
• Nolinor Aviation
• North Cariboo Air
• Novajet
• Oak Air Ltd.
• Omni Air International
• Pacific Coastal Airlines
• Pal Aerospace
• Pascan Aviation
• Pentastar Aviation
• Pivot Airlines
• Porter Airlines
• Priester Aviation
• Prime Jet
• Saturn Aviation
• Sharp-Tail Aviation Ltd.
• Skyservice Business Aviation
• Solairus Aviation
• Sunwest Aviation
• Sunwing Airlines
• TAG Aviation
• United Airlines
• USA Jet Airlines
• VIH Execujet
• VistaJet
• WestJet
• WestJet Encore

Factors which may have influenced the data

For additional contextual information on events affecting air travel, including summaries of selected Canadian economic events, as well as international and financial market developments by calendar month, check out the Canadian Economic News.