Annual civil aviation operating and financial statistics, 2015
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Released: 2017-02-13
Canadian Level I to III air carriers reported 75.5 million passengers in 2015, up 4.5% from 2014.
The domestic sector rose 1.6% to 41.3 million passengers, while the international sector (including between Canada and the United States) grew 8.2% to 34.2 million passengers. The passenger counts on scheduled flights rose 6.6% to 72.4 million, while the number of passengers flying on chartered flights declined 28.5% to 3.1 million, as a major charter carrier, CanJet Airlines, suspended operations on September 1, 2015.
Total operating revenues rose 1.3% from a year earlier to $22.6 billion in 2015. Total operating expenses declined 2.6% to $20.1 billion, largely due to lower fuel prices. In 2015, fuel costs accounted for 23.7% of total operating expenses, down from 30.2% in 2014.
In 2015, 89.1 cents of each operating revenue dollar was used to cover operating expenses. Aircraft operations accounted for the largest portion of each dollar at 42.3 cents, followed by general services and administration (30.1 cents) and maintenance (11.4 cents).
Total employment in the aviation industry declined 0.4% to 55,313, while total wages and salaries increased 4.3% from 2014 to $3.9 billion. In 2015, wages and salaries accounted for 19.6% of the industry's total operating expenses, up from 18.3% in 2014.
The growth of civil aviation in Canada
As 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of Confederation, we take a look back at an aspect of civil aviation statistics in Canada.
In 1937, the Dominion Bureau of Statistics released its first issue of Civil Aviation in Canada, 1936. Previously, statistics on civil aviation were compiled and published by the Civil Aviation Branch of the Department of Marine.
In 1936, the number of passengers carried was just over 100,000 for the entire year, and most of the trips were for short passenger flights. Almost 80 years later, in 2015, there were 75.5 million passengers carried on Canadian airlines en route to or returning from local, regional, national and international destinations.
Note to readers
This release covers Canadian Level I, II and III air carriers.
Level I air carriers include every Canadian air carrier that, in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided, transported at least 2 million revenue passengers or at least 400 thousand tonnes of cargo.
Level II air carriers include every Canadian air carrier that, in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided, transported (a) at least 100 thousand but fewer than 2 million revenue passengers; or (b) at least 50 thousand but less than 400 thousand tonnes of cargo.
Level III air carriers include every Canadian air carrier that (a) is not a level I air carrier or level II air carrier; and (b) in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided, realized gross revenues of at least 2 million dollars for the provision of air services for which the air carrier held a licence.
Products
Annual civil aviation operating and financial statistics for 2015 are now available in "Civil Aviation, Annual Operating and Financial Statistics, Canadian Air Carriers, Levels I to III," as part of the service bulletin Aviation, Vol. 49, no. 4 (51-004-X).
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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