Airport activity, 2020

Released: 2021-08-25

Highlights

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic crippled the aviation industry and brought an abrupt end to 10 consecutive annual increases in air passenger traffic. The total number of passengers enplaned and deplaned at Canadian airports dropped to 45.9 million in 2020, a decrease of 71.8% from the previous year.

From 2019, traffic decreased significantly at Canada's largest airports. Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International and Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International both saw decreases of 73.6% in passenger traffic, while traffic was down 71.9% at Vancouver International and 69.2% at Calgary International.

Chart 1 
Passengers enplaned and deplaned at the top five Canadian airports

Unprecedented widespread declines

In the wake of travel restrictions first imposed in March 2020 in Canada and around the world, passenger traffic fell sharply for the rest of the year. Measures by provincial governments to control the virus, including closing non-essential businesses, further constrained air operators. Indeed, some Canadian airlines suspended operations entirely, while others continued to curtail their operations.

Chart 2 
Air passenger traffic, by sector

As a result, air passenger traffic fell to levels not seen in more than 40 years, with domestic passenger traffic declining 69.4% (64.8 million passengers) from the previous year.

With the border closed to non-residents in late March 2020, transborder traffic (with the United States) experienced an even steeper decline, down 78.1% (25.1 million passengers). Air Canada, the only Canadian carrier operating scheduled transborder flights at that time, suspended service in April. In May, it resumed its service, albeit sharply reduced, for the remainder of the year.

With the imposition of travel restrictions in mid-March 2020, other international or overseas traffic fell by 72.5% (27.1 million passengers). The Canadian government continued to advise against all non-essential travel outside the country, required mandatory quarantine upon re-entry, and banned discretionary travel to Canada by non-residents. Initially, Canadian carriers maintained a limited number of scheduled flights to international destinations, with a focus on repatriation and the movement of essential goods.

Canada's busiest airports

In 2020, the four busiest airports accounted for roughly two-thirds (66.8%) of all passenger traffic in Canada, including over half (53.3%) of all domestic traffic and even larger shares of transborder (87.2%) and other international traffic (90.6%).

Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International enplaned and deplaned 13.0 million passengers in 2020, down sharply from almost 50 million in 2019. Domestic traffic fell 70.4% (from 17.7 million to 5.2 million) international traffic fell 73.4% (from 17.9 million to 4.8 million), and transborder traffic fell 78.0% (from 13.6 million to 3.0 million).

Next, Vancouver International enplaned and deplaned 7.2 million passengers, about one-third of the traffic in 2019 (25.7 million passengers). Domestic traffic fell 66.9% (from 12.3 million to 4.1 million), international traffic fell to one-quarter of its 2019 level (from 7.1 million to 1.8 million), and transborder traffic fell 79.1% (from 6.3 million to 1.3 million).

For the first time since 2014, Calgary International became Canada's third-busiest airport, enplaning and deplaning 5.3 million passengers, but down from 17.2 million in 2019. Domestic traffic fell 66.4% (from 11.9 million to 4.0 million), international traffic fell 73.2% (from 1.9 million to 0.5 million), and transborder traffic fell 76.8% (from 3.5 million to 0.8 million).

At Montréal/Pierre Elliot Trudeau International, 5.2 million passengers were enplaned and deplaned, down from 19.6 million in 2019. Domestic traffic fell 72.2% (from 6.9 million to 1.9 million), international traffic by 73.0% (from 8.2 million to 2.2 million), and transborder traffic by 76.8% (from 4.4 million to 1.0 million).

At each of these airports, most of the passenger traffic was generated in the pre-COVID months of January, February and early March.

Essential retail and e-commerce keep cargo in flight

With passenger traffic scarce, moving cargo helped to keep aircraft in the sky. Early in the pandemic, Air Canada began operating cargo-only flights and modified some passenger aircraft to do so. The steady increase in scheduled cargo-only flights during 2020 helped to limit the year-over-year decline in the weight of cargo loaded and unloaded at Canadian airports to 16.0% compared with 2019.

While the weight of domestic cargo transported by air increased 2.5% from 2019 to 608 000 tonnes in 2020, transborder cargo slipped modestly by 4.0% (230 000 tonnes). The increase in domestic cargo and the relatively small decline in transborder cargo was overshadowed by the large decline in other international cargo, which fell by 41.4% (319 000 tonnes).

During 2020, cargo operators benefitted from transporting essential goods and from a rise in online shopping during the pandemic. According to the December 2020 Retail Trade Report, retail e-commerce sales increased 70.5% in 2020 and accounted for 5.9% of total retail sales, up from 3.5% in 2019. And according to the International Civil Aviation Organization, nearly 90% of business-to-consumer global e-commerce transactions involve some air delivery.

Looking ahead

Increasing vaccination coverage rates provide some hope that Canadian air carriers will be able to further open up scheduled services, with some already beginning to ramp up domestic schedules.

Moreover, the federal government began easing border restrictions for international travel in July, as fully vaccinated Canadians flying home from abroad were no longer required to take a COVID-19 test on arrival with the hotel stopover and follow the 14-day quarantine. This easing helped to further bolster an already upward trend in weekly transborder aircraft movements.

An expanded list of travellers eligible to enter Canada, as well as easing requirements for those entering the country, can only contribute to helping the industry recovery.

Products

Additional analytical information is now available in "Airport Activity: Air Carrier Traffic at Canadian Airports, 2020," as part of the service bulletin Aviation (Catalogue number51-004-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).