Monthly civil aviation statistics, September 2021

Released: 2021-11-25

Highlights

Major Canadian airlines carried 2.9 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in September. While this was more than triple the number of passengers carried in September 2020, it was 42.5% of the pre-pandemic level reported in September 2019.

With traffic at 6.6 billion passenger-kilometres and capacity at 9.8 billion available seat-kilometres, the passenger load factor was 67.8%.

While up year over year, the $773.4 million operating revenue earned in September 2021 was a little over one-third (36.1%) of the operating revenue earned before the pandemic in September 2019.

Border restrictions ease for vaccinated international arrivals to Canada

Following the easing of travel restrictions for vaccinated Canadians in July and Americans in August, as of September 7, travellers from other countries are allowed to enter Canada without quarantine if they are fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved by Health Canada. The leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada for September 2021 showed an increase in the number of non-resident air travellers arriving in Canada as of that date.

In September, Porter Airlines resumed operations after an almost 18-month suspension, and Air Canada Rouge also restarted flights. This marks the first month since March 2020 when all Level I carriers were in operation.

Moderate improvements in September

Canadian Level I air carriers flew 2.9 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in September. This was down 57.5% from the pre-pandemic level of September 2019, a slight improvement over the 60.7% decline in August (from August 2019).

Infographic 1 
Passengers carried by Canadian Level I air carriers, monthly, 2019 to 2021

On a monthly basis, the number of passengers flown in September decreased 9.7% from August, smaller than the five-year (from 2015 to 2019, before the pandemic) average September decline of 17.5%. Both the domestic and international sectors generally decline in September, however the number of passengers on international routes increased from August as more travel restrictions were eased.

At 6.6 billion passenger-kilometres, traffic in September was 66.1% below the pre-pandemic level posted in September 2019. Capacity was 9.8 billion available seat-kilometres, down 58.2% from September 2019.

The passenger load factor (the ratio of passenger-kilometres to available seat-kilometres) declined from 78.1% in August to 67.8% in September. This was almost 16 percentage points lower than the 83.6% posted in September 2019.

Each passenger travelled an average of 2,248 kilometres in September. Although this was the greatest average distance since January 2021, it was 20.3% lower than in September 2019.

At 89,000, the number of flying hours in September was 52.2% below the pre-pandemic level posted in September 2019.

Operating revenue earned by Level I carriers totalled $773.4 million in September, just over one-third (36.1%) of the $2.1 billion reported in September 2019, but up from the 30.6% proportion from August (compared with August 2019).

Chart 1 
Passengers carried, Canadian air carriers, Level I

Chart 2 
Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers, Level I

Chart 3 
Turbo fuel consumed, Canadian air carriers, Level I

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; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).