Aviation
Airport Activity: Air Carrier Traffic at Canadian Airports, 2024

Highlights

In 2024, the number of passengers enplaned and deplaned at Canadian airports increased 4.0% from 2023 to 156.7 million. This was just under the 2019 level (96.2%), prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Passenger traffic at Canada’s four largest airports was up in 2024—Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (+4.3%), Vancouver International (+3.8%), Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International (+5.7%), and Calgary International (+2.5%). Nevertheless, this was a marked slowdown from the double-digit increases at these airports in 2023.

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

International and transborder traffic soars

The airline industry saw continued growth in travel demand in 2024, despite some ongoing challenges including inflationary pressure, pilot shortages, aircraft delivery delays, geopolitical tensions and wildfires across Canada.

As part of this increasing demand for air travel over the year, airports saw much faster growth in transborder (Canada-United States) and other international passenger numbers than for domestic air travel.

New or re-started routes, in addition to increased carrier capacity helped drive transborder (+10.4%) and other international (+8.1%) passenger growth in 2024. Domestic passenger volumes remained essentially unchanged year over year in 2024 (+0.1%).

Cargo makes a soft landing

Following the pandemic surge in package delivery, Canada’s air cargo sector saw continued growth in 2024, with the total amount of cargo loaded and unloaded at Canadian airports rising by 5.1% from 2023. Factors contributing to growth in Canada’s air cargo sector were an increase in e-commerce activity and route expansions by Canadian carriers.

In 2024, domestic cargo increased 5.9% from 2023 to 802 000 tonnes. International cargo grew 8.2% to 534 000 tonnes while transborder cargo fell 3.5% to 243 000 tonnes.

Data table for Chart 1

Data table for chart 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for chart 1 , calculated using (appearing as column headers).

	passengers (millions)
Source: Table 23-10-0253-01; publication 51-203-X.
2005	94,605,005
2006	101,677,328
2007	106,433,442
2008	109,360,095
2009	104,765,830
2010	109,099,196
2011	113,471,763
2012	119,197,489
2013	123,909,945
2014	129,868,870
2015	133,426,703
2016	140,892,544
2017	150,808,451
2018	160,641,587
2019	162,185,308
2020	46,349,535
2021	46,280,911
2022	118,882,897
2023	150,701,926
2024	156,722,185

Looking ahead

In 2024, over 31.8 million passengers enplaned and deplaned at Canadian airports on flights to and from the United States, up 10.4% from 2023 but 1.2% below 2019. However, data from 2025 on monthly screened passengers at the eight largest Canadian airports indicate that transborder screened passenger volumes have fallen every month, on a year-over-year basis, since February.

Note to readers

Cargo data

This survey collects data on passengers enplaned and deplaned and cargo loaded and unloaded at Canadian airports.

With each release, data for the previous reference year may be revised.

With this release, air cargo data is now included for:

1. Regional and local scheduled carriers and,
2. Domestic charter dedicated cargo flights (domestic courier cargo and domestic entity cargo flights).

These new sources of air cargo data are also included in the revised 2023 reference year data.

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 table 23-10-0254-01.

Services offered by carriers

Scheduled Services

• ABX Air
• Aer Lingus
• Aeromexico
• Air Algerie
• Air Canada
• Air Canada Express
• Air Canada Rouge
• Air China
• Air Creebec
• Air France
• Air India
• Air Inuit
• Air New Zealand
• Air North
• Air St Pierre
• Air Tindi Ltd.
• Air Transat
• Air Wisconsin
• Aklak Air
• Alaska Airlines
• All Nippon Airways
• American Airlines
• Amik Aviation
• Arajet
• Austrian Airlines
• Avianca
• Avianca Costa Rica
• Bearskin Airlines
• BermudAir
• Biman Bangladesh Airlines
• British Airways
• Calm Air
• Canada Jetlines
• Canadian North
• Cargojet
• Cargolux
• Caribbean Airlines
• Carson Air
• Castle Aviation
• Cathay Pacific Airways
• Central Mountain Air
• 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
• Griffing Flying Service
• Gulf Island Seaplanes
• Hainan Airlines
• Harbour Air
• Horizon Air
• Icelandair
• Iskwew Air
• Japan Airlines
• Jazz Air Inc.
• JDR Pacific Ventures
• JetBlue Airways
• Kenmore Air
• KF Aerospace
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
• Korean Air
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Lufthansa German Airlines
• Lynx Air
• McMurray Aviation
• Mesa Airlines
• Missinippi Airways
• 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
• Philippine Airlines
• Piedmont Airlines
• PLAY
• Porter Airlines
• Porter Airlines Canada
• Propair
• Provincial Airlines
• PSA Airlines
• Qantas Airways
• Qatar Airways
• Republic Airways
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• SATA Internacional
• Saudi Arabian Airlines
• SC Aviation
• Scandinavian Airlines
• Sichuan Airlines
• Sky West Airlines
• Skyjet Aviation Canada
• Skylink Express
• Summit Air Ltd.                        
• Sun Country Airlines
• Sunwing Airlines
• Swiss International Air Lines
• TAP Air Portugal
• Thunder Airlines
• Tofino Air
• Transwest Air
• Tunisair
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines
• United Parcel Service
• Wasaya Airways
• WestJet
• WestJet Encore
• Wilderness Seaplanes
• Xiamen Airlines
• Zipair

Major Charter Services

• Acass Canada
• ACM Air Charter
• Air Alsie
• Air Canada
• Air Canada Rouge
• Air Inuit
• Air North
• Air St Pierre
• Air Tindi
• AirNet II
• Alaska Airlines
• Alerion Aviation
• American Air Services
• Ameristar Air Cargo
• Anderson Air
• Antonov Company
• Atlas Air
• Aurora Jet Partners
• Aviation Consultants
• Bearskin Airlines
• Borajet Airlines
• Bruceland Air
• Buffalo Airways
• Canada Jetlines
• Canadian North
• Chantilly Air
• Chartright Air
• Chrono Aviation
• Chrono Jet
• Cirrus Aviation Services
• Clay Lacy Aviation
• Delta Air Lines
• EFC Aviation
• Elite Jets
• EVAS Air
• Execaire
• ExecuJet Aviation
• FAI Aviation
• Fast Air Ltd.
• Flair
• Flexjet
• Flightexec
• Gestair
• Global Aviation
• Goodjet
• Gulf & Caribbean Cargo
• Haute Aviation
• Hop-a-jet
• Houston JetDirect
• IFL Group
• Image Air Charter
• Jazz Aviation
• Jet Access Aviation
• Jet Concierge Club
• Jet Linx
• JetSelect Aviation
• Jetstream Aviation
• Kalitta Air
• Kenn Borek Air
• London Air Services
• Lynden Air Cargo
• McNeely Charter Service Inc.
• Mira Vista Aviation
• NetJets
• 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
• Porter Airlines Canada
• Priester Aviation
• Prime Jet
• Red Wing Aviation
• Saturn Aviation
• SC Aviation
• Skyservice Business Aviation
• Solairus Aviation
• Starlink Aviation
• Summit Air
• Sun Country Airlines
• Sunwest Aviation
• Sunwing Airlines
• TAG Aviation
• United Airlines
• USA Jet Airlines
• VIH Execujet
• Vista Global
• VistaJet (Malta)
• Wasaya Airways
• Western Air
• WestJet
• WestJet Encore
• XOJet

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.