StatCan COVID-19: Data to Insights for a Better Canada Canadian aviation amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Part 2. Impact on various flying activities

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented disruption to aviation. Air transportation is all about connecting the world through the movement of people and goods. At the start of the pandemic, the movement of people by air was essentially stopped by public health measures and travel restrictions implemented around the world to combat the spread of the virus. In response, airlines grounded their fleets and laid off employees. While passenger numbers and revenues both dwindled, high fixed costs remained, resulting in financial losses. A number of airlines around the world had to file bankruptcy,^Note while others have been kept on financial life support from governments.^Note

Beyond the airlines, the pandemic touched every aspect of aviation. For instance, airports and air navigation service providers lost revenue as the number of passengers and flights decreased. Flight training units in many countries, including Canada, were closed for a period of time as “non-essential” businesses. General aviation activity declined as people were asked to stay home.

This is the second in a series of articles that examines the impact of COVID-19 on aviation in Canada and looks for signs of recovery up to the end of 2021. The first article examined the impact on Canada’s large and medium air carriers and found that passenger airlines bore the brunt of this impact, while the increased demand for air cargo was insufficient to offset this decline. This second article focuses on the impacts across various types of flying activities and compares their speed of recovery. After a brief overview of data and methods, the article examines a breadth of flying activities and finds that those such as general aviation, flight training, aerial work and smaller air carriers were able to recover faster than the larger airlines.

Data and methods

Statistics Canada’s Aircraft Movement Statistics (AMS) use administrative data from NAV CANADA – Canada’s air navigation service provider – on aircraft movements at the 90 airports with NAV CANADA control towers and flight service stations (FSS). Only data on itinerant movements^Note are used in this analysis covering the period from 2018 through 2021. The population of airports does not cover all registered aerodromes in Canada (of which there are about 2,000), but only those with NAV CANADA control towers and FSS. This has some impact on the analysis, which is explained in the results section. Data published in the AMS are not seasonally adjusted. To deal with seasonality, and to make variables with different levels comparable to each other, percentage changes from the same month of pre-pandemic 2019 were calculated for several graphs.

Air carriers that transport passengers and cargo in Canada are classified as airline, commuter or air taxi operators based on the size of aircraft operated. Flight training units train pilots for licences and ratings, while aerial work operators are engaged in other commercial air services, such as aerial survey, crop dusting and aerial firefighting. Corporate, or business, aviation involves the transportation of employees by the company or by a corporate aviation company for hire. General aviation refers to private aircraft being flown by their owners.^Note This article focuses on all these flying activities. They are supported by air navigation service providers (in Canada it is NAV CANADA), airports, fixed base operators and aircraft maintenance organizations, whose activities are outside the scope of this article.

While AMS do not group data by the types of flying activity as defined above (i.e. airline, commuter, air taxi, aerial work, flight training, corporate aviation and general aviation), it has categories that can serve as proxies due to their correlations with the type of flying activity. These groupings are by flight rules, engine category, and type of operation.

Results

Aircraft movements under visual flight rules lead recovery

Every flight is conducted in accordance with either visual or instrument flight rules. Visual flight rules (VFR) flights must be conducted with visual reference to the surface of the earth, and the weather conditions must meet specific requirements which vary depending on the airspace classification (controlled or uncontrolled), time of the day (day or night) and altitude of flight. These flights include most general aviation flights, most flight training, a number of aerial work applications (such as aerial survey and crop dusting), and some air taxi operations. Instrument flight rules (IFR) flights are conducted with reference to flight instruments and can fly in cloud or low visibility. These flights include airline and commuter flights, corporate aviation, a portion of air taxi operations, some aerial work, and some general aviation and training flights.

At airports with NAV CANADA control towers and FSS, almost two-thirds of itinerant aircraft movements pre-pandemic (65% in 2018 and 63% in 2019) were by IFR flights. This does not represent all the flights taking place in Canada. The percentage of IFR movements at aerodromes without control towers or FSS would be lower, because much of the general aviation and flight training activity takes place at those aerodromes, and those are primarily VFR flights. The majority of activity at airports with control towers or FSS, on the other hand, is by air carriers who operate under IFR. Since data for aerodromes without control towers or FSS are not available, this analysis will focus on those airports included in AMS.

Chart 1 shows the percentage changes from the same month of 2019 in VFR and IFR itinerant aircraft movements at airports with NAV CANADA control towers and FSS. Both IFR and VFR flights were largely curtailed in April 2020 amid public health measures such as physical distancing and advisories to stay home. IFR movements remained well below pre-pandemic levels for many months, but recovered steadily beginning in the summer of 2021 to reach 75% of 2019 level in December 2021.

Data table for Chart 1



Data table for Chart 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1 Visual flight rules and Instrument flight rules, calculated using percentage change from same month of 2019 units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Visual flight rules	Instrument flight rules
	percentage change from same month of 2019
2020
January	-9.3	-3.4
February	28.4	1.5
March	-36.3	-25.3
April	-68.5	-74.7
May	-55.9	-74.1
June	-35.9	-66.8
July	-26.7	-61.4
August	-13.1	-59.6
September	-11.9	-57.5
October	-17.0	-56.2
November	-1.5	-55.7
December	-3.4	-54.0
2021
January	-2.8	-59.2
February	-2.7	-61.6
March	-8.4	-62.4
April	-3.3	-62.1
May	-18.0	-62.4
June	-16.3	-57.1
July	-18.2	-48.6
August	-17.6	-39.1
September	-7.5	-32.0
October	-16.1	-29.2
November	1.3	-26.1
December	-8.6	-25.1
Source: Statistics Canada, Aircraft Movement Statistics.

VFR movements began recovering much earlier, in May 2020, and reached over 95% of pre-pandemic levels in some months of 2021. After two months of closure, flight training began resuming in May and June 2020, with timing varying by province. In later lockdowns, flight training units were allowed to remain open for training and proficiency flights. General aviation flights also resumed or picked up in the summer of 2020. As airspace became almost devoid of airline traffic, aerial work operators were able to conduct more flights than usual, taking advantage of being able to work in airspace that would previously have been too busy. Despite recovering sooner than IFR movements, VFR movements generally stabilized at a slightly lower level than pre-pandemic 2019.

VFR movements at airports with control towers (not FSS) were above 2019 levels in some months of 2021. With much less airline traffic, general aviation pilots and flight instructors took advantage of the opportunity to fly to larger airports and practice controlled aerodrome procedures or teach their students to operate at these airports. Therefore, some of the increase in VFR movements at aerodromes with control towers is actually substitution from other aerodromes.

As a result of VFR movements recovering faster than IFR movements, the proportion of VFR itinerant movements at airports with NAV CANADA control towers and FSS increased from a little over a third (37%) of itinerant movements in 2019 to almost half (47%) in 2020. In the eight months from May through December 2020 combined, this proportion was more than half (55%).

VFR flights are much more weather dependent than IFR flights, and there is a clear seasonal pattern, with VFR movements as a proportion of total movements increasing in the summer and decreasing in the winter. Chart 2 shows itinerant VFR movements as a percentage of total itinerant movements for airports with NAV CANADA control towers and FSS by month. In 2018 and 2019, the VFR proportion never reached 45%. Every month beginning in May 2020, percentages are visibly higher than pre-pandemic 2018 and 2019, reaching 61% in August 2020. In the second half of 2021, VFR proportions decreased from previous months as IFR traffic increased.

Data table for Chart 2



Data table for Chart 2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	2018	2019	2020	2021
	percent
January	22.9	25.8	24.6	45.3
February	27.6	27.8	32.7	49.3
March	31.7	36.6	33.0	58.4
April	34.8	35.7	40.9	58.6
May	42.4	41.7	55.0	61.0
June	40.3	42.3	58.6	58.9
July	43.1	44.2	60.1	55.7
August	38.8	42.2	61.1	49.8
September	38.0	38.8	56.8	46.3
October	34.9	37.6	53.3	41.7
November	29.5	31.8	50.9	39.0
December	26.1	25.1	41.3	29.0
Source: Statistics Canada, Aircraft Movement Statistics.

Activity of helicopters and piston airplanes more robust than that of turbine airplanes

Another characteristic that is correlated with the type of flying activity is engine category, which is generally, although not perfectly, correlated with aircraft size. Major airlines operate mostly turbofan aircraft, while regional airlines use turboprops and some smaller turbofans. Commuter carriers fly mostly turboprops, and air taxi operators have pistons and turboprops. Aerial work operators tend to fly pistons and turboprops; flight training is done on piston aircraft, and general aviation is mostly the domain of pistons, but some wealthy individuals own turboprops. Corporate aviation is an outlier, as their fleets consist mostly of business jets that transport small numbers of people at fast speed.

Chart 3 depicts monthly itinerant aircraft movements at airports with NAV CANADA control towers and FSS by type of power plant. The use of all airplanes (i.e. series on the graph other than helicopters) dropped noticeably in April 2020. Then movements by piston aircraft began recovering closer to pre-pandemic levels, while movements by turbine aircraft (turboprops, turbofans and turbojets) remained well below the levels they were at in 2018 and 2019. Movements by turbine-engine airplanes increased over the summer of 2021 and flattened out in autumn, still remaining noticeably below pre-pandemic levels, although higher than at any previous time during the pandemic. This echoes the flight rules data. Flight training, aerial work and general aviation activity was almost back to pre-pandemic levels by late 2020, while air carriers continued to be affected by travel restrictions and a lack of demand. Substitution from smaller aerodromes could also be a factor.

Data table for Chart 3



Data table for Chart 3
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 3 Turbofan and turbojet, Turboprop, Piston and Helicopters, calculated using number of itinerant aircraft movements units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Turbofan and turbojet	Turboprop	Piston	Helicopters
	number of itinerant aircraft movements
2018
January	98,098	113,287	41,910	14,830
February	91,049	105,875	50,961	15,701
March	104,877	121,750	72,425	19,747
April	98,798	119,509	78,117	20,406
May	105,828	136,549	116,707	29,995
June	111,583	137,216	108,706	28,979
July	119,372	144,793	126,855	32,020
August	121,578	144,371	103,765	32,845
September	109,302	129,057	98,792	26,132
October	105,555	129,110	88,685	23,314
November	94,218	118,615	64,053	16,888
December	100,226	114,433	55,946	13,410
2019
January	99,334	113,541	50,439	15,352
February	90,225	101,719	49,670	14,582
March	103,015	121,822	93,511	21,484
April	97,874	120,497	83,463	21,624
May	104,682	130,004	112,450	28,575
June	108,733	128,440	116,027	28,639
July	116,977	136,574	134,688	31,111
August	118,706	134,167	126,080	28,420
September	108,746	123,362	101,132	24,561
October	105,042	122,887	99,136	23,618
November	93,786	112,419	71,314	16,904
December	98,513	109,566	50,587	13,519
2020
January	97,461	106,535	45,818	15,197
February	91,142	102,381	68,684	16,944
March	78,429	88,251	59,123	14,434
April	19,912	36,286	21,481	11,673
May	21,750	40,283	46,296	18,318
June	29,170	50,971	76,301	20,844
July	38,304	62,190	103,598	23,963
August	40,063	65,599	112,757	27,145
September	36,955	63,504	93,123	23,120
October	37,702	63,710	84,898	20,100
November	34,225	59,097	72,073	16,025
December	38,041	59,225	49,521	12,847
2021
January	33,575	53,754	53,178	13,671
February	25,334	50,078	51,507	13,421
March	28,255	59,714	88,237	18,862
April	28,549	57,267	85,723	19,454
May	30,309	60,489	97,416	23,970
June	36,491	70,708	96,442	26,673
July	52,258	85,928	102,309	33,686
August	65,937	91,290	97,986	30,794
September	70,020	88,570	94,461	25,914
October	71,106	90,730	81,134	23,910
November	68,242	85,192	69,366	20,692
December	75,532	82,492	43,631	13,426
Source: Statistics Canada, Aircraft Movement Statistics.

Helicopters, which include both those with piston and turboshaft engines, are in a league of their own, as their activity was hardly affected. Helicopters are used mostly in aerial work operations that are essential and cannot stop in a pandemic – pipeline patrol, firefighting, transporting workers to oil rigs, and so on. Additionally, some people used helicopter services to fly across the Canada-US border when it was closed to land crossings.

Activity by larger air carriers the slowest to recover

The AMS program also publishes data by type of operation. Chart 4 presents the number of itinerant aircraft movements by type of operation at airports with NAV CANADA control towers and FSS.^Note Chart 5 shows percentage changes from the same month of 2019.

Activity in all types of operation declined in April 2020, but the number of movements by private aircraft^Note never fell as much as the others. While air carriers had little demand for their services and flight training units were closed by government rules, general aviation pilots who own their own aircraft were simply advised to stay home. In the interests of aviation safety, and in many cases to satisfy the requirements imposed by insurance companies to fly a minimum number of hours in a given time period, some private aircraft owners continued limited flying in the local area throughout the lockdown periods. Additionally, corporate aircraft are often registered as private, and this type of flying has seen an increase during the pandemic, as the wealthy seek to avoid airline travel for fears of catching the virus (Foley, 2021). These factors were mitigated by terminal closures, shortened operating hours for airport services and similar restrictions that made operations more difficult.

Following the decline at the beginning of the pandemic, private aircraft movements reached pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2020 and fluctuated around those levels in 2021.

Data table for Chart 4



Data table for Chart 4
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 4 Level I-III and foreign air carriers, Level IV-VI air carriers, Other commercial and Private, calculated using number of itinerant aircraft movements units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Level I-III and foreign air carriers	Level IV-VI air carriers	Other commercial	Private
	number of itinerant aircraft movements
2018
January	202,070	32,233	13,196	15,238
February	187,283	36,988	16,591	16,913
March	216,075	46,979	24,194	24,811
April	207,408	50,394	24,323	27,144
May	227,216	69,963	36,885	44,003
June	233,185	66,913	32,881	43,576
July	248,323	78,289	38,423	45,195
August	248,166	70,183	31,972	43,553
September	225,048	59,378	29,842	40,201
October	222,484	54,126	28,507	32,927
November	202,319	41,743	21,357	22,553
December	205,929	36,931	16,363	19,760
2019
January	204,135	36,202	15,550	17,509
February	183,071	36,552	16,734	15,037
March	216,470	56,756	30,754	28,814
April	209,122	51,134	28,289	27,412
May	222,415	67,726	37,222	37,729
June	223,862	69,610	37,727	41,222
July	241,218	81,042	40,085	44,383
August	239,320	74,844	39,628	44,767
September	218,961	62,653	30,972	36,242
October	216,448	60,324	33,657	31,897
November	196,205	45,338	24,476	22,429
December	198,903	36,388	15,284	17,332
2020
January	195,069	34,634	15,460	14,891
February	184,817	45,684	22,788	20,526
March	159,275	38,599	17,621	20,410
April	51,127	12,699	3,835	17,599
May	54,555	30,549	11,180	24,316
June	71,080	44,403	25,855	29,573
July	89,760	58,968	36,698	35,766
August	94,670	66,673	39,620	37,863
September	90,211	56,693	31,945	31,523
October	91,872	51,298	28,754	28,436
November	84,848	44,291	24,985	22,248
December	88,959	30,115	17,583	18,344
2021
January	79,771	31,600	19,789	18,615
February	68,122	32,720	18,739	16,000
March	78,537	48,797	33,492	27,657
April	77,478	46,091	32,881	28,675
May	81,397	53,361	36,954	33,059
June	94,081	54,790	38,506	34,176
July	121,205	66,674	38,041	38,694
August	141,393	62,283	34,618	39,195
September	145,411	55,036	33,675	36,786
October	149,354	49,057	30,033	31,972
November	141,118	45,431	26,012	24,782
December	146,495	31,027	16,028	17,148
Source: Statistics Canada, Aircraft Movement Statistics.

Data table for Chart 5



Data table for Chart 5
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 5 Level I-III and foreign air carriers, Level IV-VI air carriers, Other commercial and Private, calculated using percentage change from same month of 2019 units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Level I-III and foreign air carriers	Level IV-VI air carriers	Other commercial	Private
	percentage change from same month of 2019
2020
January	-4.4	-4.3	-0.6	-15.0
February	1.0	25.0	36.2	36.5
March	-26.4	-32.0	-42.7	-29.2
April	-75.6	-75.2	-86.4	-35.8
May	-75.5	-54.9	-70.0	-35.6
June	-68.2	-36.2	-31.5	-28.3
July	-62.8	-27.2	-8.4	-19.4
August	-60.4	-10.9	0.0	-15.4
September	-58.8	-9.5	3.1	-13.0
October	-57.6	-15.0	-14.6	-10.9
November	-56.8	-2.3	2.1	-0.8
December	-55.3	-17.2	15.0	5.8
2021
January	-60.9	-12.7	27.3	6.3
February	-62.8	-10.5	12.0	6.4
March	-63.7	-14.0	8.9	-4.0
April	-63.0	-9.9	16.2	4.6
May	-63.4	-21.2	-0.7	-12.4
June	-58.0	-21.3	2.1	-17.1
July	-49.8	-17.7	-5.1	-12.8
August	-40.9	-16.8	-12.6	-12.4
September	-33.6	-12.2	8.7	1.5
October	-31.0	-18.7	-10.8	0.2
November	-28.1	0.2	6.3	10.5
December	-26.3	-14.7	4.9	-1.1
Source: Statistics Canada, Aircraft Movement Statistics.

After the initial drop, it is the movements by Level I-III and foreign air carriers (which include Canadian airline, commuter and larger air taxi operators, as well as foreign air carriers of any size) that stand out. Before the pandemic, these carriers accounted for by far the largest number of movements at airports with NAV CANADA control towers and FSS. After first dropping in March and April 2020, they remained well below pre-pandemic levels while other types of operation recovered sooner. This echoes the findings in the previous article on airlines; that is, large and medium carriers continued to experience low demand amid new waves of infections, uncertainty and travel restrictions. The improvement observed in the second half of 2021 is also consistent with the passenger data.

In contrast, small air carriers (Level IV-VI) mostly provide air taxi services to smaller communities, and these vital links are essential to those who live in those remote communities, so they are needed even during the pandemic. Their aircraft movements have recovered to near or above 80% of pre-pandemic levels.

Finally, other commercial movements include flight training and aerial work.^Note As discussed in relation to flight rules, these activities have recovered or increased their flying to take advantage of less busy airspace. Substitution from flying at small uncontrolled aerodromes to visiting controlled airports could also be a factor. Other commercial movements were above 2019 levels for half a year (from November 2020 through April 2021) but declined to fluctuate around 2019 levels in later months.

Summary and conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest shock to the aviation industry in history,^Note and this article examined its impact on various flying activities in Canada as well as the road to recovery up to December 2021. While all flying activities were affected, some recovered faster than others. AMS data show that movements under instrument flight rules, movements by aircraft with turbine engines, and those by large and medium air carriers remained significantly reduced from pre-pandemic levels as of the end of 2021. In comparison, movements under visual flight rules, movements by aircraft with piston engines, and those by small air carriers, other commercial operators and private aircraft have recovered close to, or in some cases above, pre-pandemic levels.

This suggests that general aviation, flight training and aerial work had a faster recovery than air taxi operations which, in turn, had a stronger recovery than airline operations. It was the challenges faced and actions taken by the larger airlines – grounded fleets, laid off employees and huge financial losses – that garnered the most attention. This is understandable as commercial passenger aviation has a larger economic footprint, and collateral damage was felt throughout the tourism sector.

References

Foley, Brian. (2021, September 16). Business jet makers exit decade-long lull to capture renewed market interest. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianfoley1/2021/09/16/business-jet-makers-exit-decade-long-coma-poised-to-capture-long-awaited-market-demand/?sh=6a5a04571445

IATA. (2021a, October). Annual review 2021. https://www.iata.org/contentassets/c81222d96c9a4e0bb4ff6ced0126f0bb/iata-annual-review-2021.pdf

IATA. (2021b, October 4). Airline industry economic performance – October 2021. https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic-reports/airline-industry-economic-performance---october-2021---presentation/

Mordvinova, V. (2022). Canadian aviation amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Part 1. Impact on Canadian airlines. StatCan COVID-19: Data to Insights for a Better Canada. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 45280001. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2022001/article/00003-eng.htm

Statistics Canada. Surveys and statistical programs – Aircraft Movement Statistics. https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=2715