Aviation
Monthly Aircraft Movements: Major airports – NAV CANADA Towers and Flight Service Stations, December 2016 Aviation
Monthly Aircraft Movements: Major airports – NAV CANADA Towers and Flight Service Stations, December 2016

Analysis

There were 327,236 aircraft take-offs and landings at the 91 Canadian airports with NAV CANADA air traffic control towers and flight service stations compared with 331,081 movements in December 2015.

Both itinerant movements (flights from one airport to another) and local movements (flights that remain in the vicinity of the airport) decreased in December 2016 on a year-over-year basis. Itinerant movements were down 0.7% to 258,601 while local movements decreased 2.9% to 68,635.

Overall, 57% of the airports reported fewer movements in December 2016. Year-over-year variations of more than 1,000 movements were reported at 12 airports. Seven airports registered declines ranging from 2,971 movements at Calgary/Springbank, Alberta to 1,243 at Edmonton International, Alberta. The growth in aircraft movements at the remaining 5 airports ranged from 1,848 movements at Red Deer Regional, Alberta to 1,069 at Moncton/Greater Moncton International, New Brunswick.

Itinerant traffic dropped 0.7% (-1,788 movements) as 52 airports reported fewer movements in December 2016.  With the exceptions of reductions of 1,016 and 687 movements at Montréal/St-Hubert, Quebec and Toronto/Buttonville Municipal, Ontario respectively, the largest declines in air traffic were observed in Alberta with decreases at Calgary International (-1,285 movements), Edmonton International (-1,197) and Calgary/Springbank (-1,141). The largest gains were recorded in New Brunswick at Fredericton International (+1,138) and Moncton/Greater Moncton International (+877).

In December 2016, local movements fell 2.9% (- 2,057 movements) as 42 airports reported fewer from the same month a year earlier. Year-over-year variations ranged from a decrease of 1,830 movements at Calgary/Springbank to an increase of 1,348 movements at Red Deer Regional.

Itinerant movements: domestic, transborder and international

Domestic itinerant movements (within Canada) fell to 206,783 in December 2016, down 1.0% from the same month the previous year. The airports leading the declines in air traffic were Calgary International (-1,177 movements), Calgary/Springbank (-1,147) and Montréal/St-Hubert (-1,004). These reductions were sufficient to offset the growth at several airports including Fredericton International (+1,130) and Moncton/Greater Moncton International (+868).

During the month, 65 airports reported 37,521 transborder (between Canada and the United States) itinerant movements, down 1.3%, from the level recorded in December 2015. The largest reductions in movements were reported at Edmonton International (-308 movements), Montréal/Pierre Elliot Trudeau International, Quebec (-179) and Calgary International (-175). The largest gains occurred at Vancouver International, British Columbia (+362) and Hamilton, Ontario (+226).

In December 2016, 43 airports reported a total of 14,297 other international itinerant movements, up 6.1% from the same period the previous year.  Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International was the busiest airport with 6,554 movements, an increase of 8.7%, followed by Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International (2,609 movements) and Vancouver International (2,153). Together, these three airports accounted for 79% of all other international itinerant movements during the month.

Factors which may have influenced the data

On December 26^th, 2016, several flights out of Thunder Bay Airport, Ontario were cancelled due to a winter storm.

On December 20^th, 2016, Air Canada began a new year-round service between Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Ontario and Port of Spain, Trinidad.

On December 17^th, 2016, Air Canada inaugurated a new non-stop service between Montréal/Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport, Québec and Puerto Rico. The weekly flights will operate as a winter seasonal service.

On December 9^th, 2016, Porter Airlines began winter service between Toronto/Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Ontario and Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Flights will be available until April 3^rd, 2017, with service up to six times weekly during the peak schedule.

On November 18^th, 2016, Hawkair Aviation Services filed for bankruptcy, suspending all operations.

Starting November 7^th, 2016, Perimeter Aviation added flights in Ontario from Sioux Lookout to Bearskin Lake First Nation and Thunder Bay to Bearskin Lake First Nation.

On November 6^th, 2016, Sunwing Vacations introduced a new weekly service from Kelowna, British Columbia to Cancun, Mexico. This service will run until April 9^th, 2017.

On October 31^st, 2016, Toronto Airways Inc. and the Canadian Flight Academy announced their move of operations from Toronto/Buttonville Municipal Airport, Ontario to Oshawa Airport, Ontario. In order to accommodate the move Toronto Airways at Toronto/Buttonville Municipal will be closed effective November 23, 2016. The Canadian Flight Academy will be closed effective November 30, 2016.

On October 31^st, 2016, Bearskin Airlines announced it has partnered with Winnipeg-based Perimeter Aviation to re-establish service between Thunder Bay and several First Nations communities north of Sioux Lookout.

On October 29^th, 2016, WestJet launched its first flight from Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport to Belize City, Belize. The new non-stop seasonal service will operate two times a week.

On October 24^th, 2016, Perimeter Aviation service to Sioux Lookout was expanded to include the Ontario First Nation communities of Deer Lake, Sachigo Lake, Weagamow (Round Lake) and North Spirit Lake with many of these new flights connecting to Bearskin Airlines service to and from Thunder Bay.

On October 20^th, 2016, Air Canada inaugurated the only non-stop service from Vancouver International Airport, British Columbia to Delhi, India. The airline will operate flights three times a week.

The Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Region began its annual field training exercise in Inuvik, Nunavut and the surrounding areas on October 17^th, 2016. The live-fly field training exercise will run to October 21st, 2016.

As of October 7^th, 2016, Porter Airlines began daily flights between Toronto/Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to North Bay, Ontario.

Effective October 6^th, 2016, Calgary International Airport, Alberta was renamed to YYC Calgary International Airport.

As of October 5^th, 2016, American Airlines ended its service between Kitchener/Waterloo Airport, Ontario and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Illinois.

As of October 1^st, 2016, Hawkair suspended flights from Terrace, British Columbia to Vancouver International Airport, British Columbia.

Effective September 19^th, 2016, Bearskin Airlines increased service between the Ontario cities of Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury. All nonstop service between Thunder Bay-Sault Ste Marie and Sault Ste Marie-Sudbury will increase from 23 to 33 flights weekly. Service between Thunder Bay and Sudbury will increase from 29 to 40 flights weekly including a combination of nonstop and one stop same aircraft service.

On September 18^th, 2016, the City of Brandon, Manitoba announced that WestJet was ending direct flights between Brandon and Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport. The service was introduced earlier this year as a trial run.  

On September 15^th, 2016, Greater Toronto Airways began daily flights from Toronto/Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to Niagara District Airport in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

On September 5^th, 2016, Integra Air launched a new scheduled air service in Alberta between Edmonton International and Medicine Hat.

Operation NANOOK 2016, Canada’s annual northern sovereignty operation began on August 21^st, 2016. The Canadian Armed Forces deployed land, maritime and air components in three locations in the North: Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Whitehorse and Haines Junction, Yukon.

Effective August 18^th, 2016, Moncton/Greater Moncton International Airport, New Brunswick was renamed Greater Moncton Roméo Leblanc International Airport.

As of August 1^st, 2016, Delta Airlines suspended flights to and from Regina International Airport, Saskatchewan and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

For the month of August 2016, Central Mountain Air continued to offer flights in British Columbia between Dawson Creek and Prince George after a trial run the previous month.

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre Inc. reported 3,969 fires covering 1,293,072 hectares as of July 31^st, 2016. This represents an increase of 944 fires and 412,915 hectares from a month earlier. In 2015, the agency had recorded 5,766 fires encompassing 3,889,663 hectares by the end of July.

On July 27^th, 2016, Montair Aviation, a flight training academy based in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, opened their second training base at Red Deer Airport, Alberta.

On July 25^th, 2016, NewLeaf, a new Canadian low-cost air travel company, inaugurated its first flight from John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport, Ontario to Winnipeg/James Armstrong Richardson International, Manitoba. The company is contracting flights through Kelowna-based Flair Air.

On July 20^th, 2016, Qatar Airways Cargo launched new freighter services between New York (John F. Kennedy), New York and Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International, Nova Scotia.

Effective July 1^st, 2016, United Airlines suspended service from Edmonton International Airport to Chicago and to San Francisco, California.

For the month of July 2016, Central Mountain Air will be offering flights between Dawson Creek and Prince George on a weekly basis.

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre Inc. reported 3,025 fires covering 880,157 hectares as of June 30^th, 2016. This represents an increase of 1,065 fires and 25,152 hectares from a month earlier. In 2015, the agency had recorded 4,076 fires encompassing 1,352,281 hectares by the end of June.

On June 30^th, 2016, United Airlines dropped its direct flights to and from London International Airport, Ontario and Chicago.

On June 29^th, 2016, WestJet began non-stop flights between London, Ontario and Vancouver International Airport. The service will operate four times each week.

On June 16^th, 2016, Air Canada launched the only year round non-stop service between Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and Lyon-Saint Exupéry, France. The flights will operate five times a week during the summer and four times a week during the winter.

On June 14^th, 2016, Air Canada Rouge inaugurated its first flight from Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport to Warsaw Chopin Airport, Poland. The new non-stop seasonal service will operate four times a week until September 25^th, 2016.

On June 13^th, 2016, Air Canada Rouge started a new seasonal non-stop service between Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport and Glasgow Airport, Scotland. The flights will be offered three times a week until September 25^th, 2016.

On June 10^th, 2016, Air Canada Rouge inaugurated its first flight from Vancouver International Airport to Dublin, Ireland. The airline will operate flights three times a week until October 8^th, 2016.

On June 10^th, 2016, Air Canada Rouge commenced flights between Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport and Budapest, Hungary. The non-stop seasonal service will operate three times a week.

Fort McMurray International Airport, Alberta resumed commercial air service on June 10^th, 2016. The airport authority had suspended all commercial air traffic, May 5^th, 2016, as the result of forest fires in the surrounding area.

On June 3^rd, 2016, Air Canada began weekly service from Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport to Casablanca, Morocco. The flights will be operated by Air Canada Rouge until October 29^th, 2016. Service is scheduled to resume on May 1^st, 2017.   

On June 3^rd, 2016, Condor Airlines began weekly service from Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International Airport to Munich, Germany. 

On June 2^nd, 2016, Air Canada’s inaugural flight AC35, 787 Dreamliner service from Vancouver International arrived in Brisbane, Australia. These new flights between the two cities will begin daily service on June 17^th, 2016.

As of May 31^st the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre Inc. (CIFFC) reported a total 1,960 fires covering 855,005 hectares across Canada in 2016. The majority of these occurred in Alberta, which recorded 525 fires encompassing 595,709 hectares, approximately 70% of the total area covered by forest fires nationwide. During the same period in 2015 the agency recorded more fires (2,503) across Canada, however the coverage was not as widespread (239,313 hectares).

On May 19^th, 2016, Air Canada Rouge launched its new seasonal non-stop service between Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport and London-Gatwick, United Kingdom. The flight will operate daily during the summer.

Starting May 6^th and May 7^th, 2016, WestJet launched its new non-stop service between six Canadian cities and London-Gatwick. Flights from Vancouver International, Calgary International and Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International airports began May 6^th, while service from Edmonton International Airport, Winnipeg-James Armstrong Richardson International Airport and St. John’s International Airport, Newfoundland and Labrador began May 7^th.

On May 5^th, 2016, the Fort McMurray Airport Authority suspended commercial air traffic as a result of forest fires in the surrounding area. The airport, however, continued to operate as a key transportation infrastructure for emergency operations and the transportation of food and supplies for first responders and evacuees.

On May 4^th, 2016, WOW a low-cost Icelandic airline began flights from Reykjavik, Iceland to Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International, offering flights 5 times per week. On May 11^th, 2016, flights began between Reykjavik and Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International. The airline will start with service 4 times per week increasing to 5 times per week as of July 9^th.

On May 1^st, 2016, British Airways introduced the A380 on their existing London Heathrow, United Kingdom to Vancouver International Airport route.

WestJet (Encore) began daily service on April 15^th, 2016, between Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International Airport and Boston, Massachusetts.

On April 7^th, 2016, SN Brussels Airlines began 5 / week service between Brussels, Belgium and Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport. The route was initially scheduled to begin service on March 29^th, 2016, but was delayed due to the terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport, Belgium on March 22nd, 2016.

On April 5^th, 2016, Saskatoon-based Mitchinson Flight Centre opened a new satellite flight training school in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

On April 4^th, 2016, Delta Airlines began a new non-stop service from Victoria International Airport, British Columbia to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Washington. The flights will operate three times daily.

On April 3^rd, 2016, Air Canada ceased its operations between Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport and JFK International airport in New York, New York.

In April 2016, Air Canada suspended one round trip flight between Vancouver and Terrace. Westjet as well will no longer operate its early morning flight to Vancouver and late night return to Terrace.

On March 27^th, 2016, Mt. Pavlof, a volcano on the Alaska Peninsula, erupted with little advance notice spewing an ash cloud up to 20,000 feet (6,100 m) high and prompting aviation warnings. Flights were affected in the territories, and as far away as Regina.

On March 15^th, 2016, WestJet (Encore) began 3 times a day service between Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport and Boston.

From March 6^th - 10^th, 2016, Air Greenland operated 3 round trips between Nuuk, Greenland and Iqaluit, Nunavut.

On February 24^th, 2016, a winter storm hit Chicago and moved into eastern Canada. The combination of snow and freezing rain led to dangerous travel conditions with over 1,000 flights cancelled in Chicago. Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport had about 140 flights cancelled.

A major snowstorm hit eastern Canada on February 16^th, 2016. Ottawa, Ontario received 51 cm of snow, a one-day record snowfall.

On February 15^th, 2016, WestJet ceased operations for the Calgary-Prince George, Calgary-Terrace and Fort McMurray-Kelowna routes, and reduced service on the Calgary-Brandon, Calgary-Edmonton and Calgary-Fort McMurray routes.

American Airlines ended its service between Edmonton and Dallas, Texas on February 10^th, 2016.

A major snowstorm hit Atlantic Canada on February 8^th and 9^th, 2016 with Halifax and St. John’s being particularly hard hit.

Freezing rain in the Ottawa area cancelled numerous flights in and out of Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International on February 3^rd, 2016.

On February 1^st, 2016, United Airlines ended its daily service between St. John’s International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey.

From January 22^nd – 26^th, 2016, snowstorm Jonas hit the eastern seaboard of the United States and cities including New York and Washington, DC received record or near record snowfalls. Overall, about 12,000 flights were cancelled over the four-day period, a number of which were destined for Canada.

On January 18^th, 2016, National Airlines began a twice-weekly service between St. John’s International Airport and Orlando, Florida (Sanford International Airport).

On January 17^th, 2016, the Maritimes were hit with their third major snowstorm of the week.

Beginning January 2016, WestJet will double the number of flights from Brandon to Calgary, International Airport.

Having already impacted travel at both Chicago and Detroit, Michigan airports in the U.S. Midwest, a major snowstorm hit central and eastern Canada on December 29^th, 2015 causing delays and cancellations in southern Ontario and western Quebec, including Toronto, Ottawa, and Montréal airports.

On December 27^th, 2015, Air China launched non-stop service from Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport to Havana, Cuba. The flights will operate three times per week.

On December 19^th, 2015, Porter Airlines began seasonal service between Toronto/Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and Melbourne, Florida. The flight will operate once a week.

On December 19^th, 2015, Delta Airlines began daily service between Edmonton International Airport and Seattle.

WestJet began seasonal service between Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and Orlando, Florida on December 18^th, 2015. The flight will operate once a week.

On December 17^th, 2015, National Airlines inaugurated a twice-weekly service between Windsor, Ontario and Orlando (Sanford International Airport).

Westjet Encore began its inaugural non-stop service between Edmonton International Airport and Nanaimo Airport, British Columbia on December 15^th, 2015. The flights will operate daily.

On December 10^th, 2015, Air New Zealand increased its services between Vancouver International Airport and Auckland, New Zealand from five times per week to daily service until the end of January.

On December 10^th, 2015, WestJet began seasonal service between Waterloo and Orlando. The flight will operate once a week.

Aeromexico launched a daily non-stop service on December 9^th, 2015 between Vancouver International Airport and Mexico City, Mexico.

On December 8^th, 2015, United Airlines reduced its service between London, Ontario and Chicago from 2 daily flights to 1 daily flight.

On December 1^st, 2015, North Star Air expanded their services in Northern Ontario with the introduction of three new routes. These routes connect a number of smaller communities with Red Lake, Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay.  

Effective December 1^st, 2015, Central Mountain Air will be increasing capacity on its route between Kelowna, Prince George and Terrace. The route will now be serviced by a 37-seat Dash 8, in place of a Beech 1900D.