Highlights
Major Canadian airlines flew 7.0 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in April, unchanged from April 2024.
Aircraft movements at Canada's major and select small airports totalled 552,471 in April 2025, up 7.1% from the previous year. Local movements were up 10.8% year over year, while itinerant movements rose 5.2%.
Consult the Aviation Data Visualization Hub to explore aircraft movement statistics and monthly civil aviation statistics in an interactive format.
Air travel stable in April
The seven Canadian Level I air carriers flew 7.0 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in April, the same as in April 2024.
The number of passenger-kilometres in April 2025 was 19.1 billion, a year-over-year increase of 2.5%. Capacity increased 2.7% year over year to 22.8 billion available seat-kilometres. As a result, the passenger load factor (the ratio of passenger-kilometres to available seat-kilometres) was 83.9% in April, slightly below that recorded in April 2024 (84.1%).
Chart 1: Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers, Level I
Description - Chart 1
Data table: Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers, Level I
Source: Table 23-10-0079-01.
Each passenger travelled an average of 2,730 kilometres in April 2025, up 2.5% from the same month of the previous year.
Level I carriers flew 181,000 hours (+2.3%) in April and generated $2.3 billion (+2.2%) in total operating revenue.
Local and domestic aircraft movements increase
In April, increased flight school activities at Canada's major and select small airports impacted both local and itinerant aircraft movements for the second consecutive month. Local traffic rose by 10.8% (+17,888 movements), while itinerant activity recorded a gain of 5.2% (+16,830). Boundary Bay Airport, in British Columbia, experienced the largest year-over-year increase in total movements (+6,096).
Chart 2: Total aircraft movements at major and select small airports, by class of operation
Description - Chart 2
Data table: Total aircraft movements at major and select small airports, by class of operation
Source: Table 23-10-0296-01.
Domestic itinerant movements rose 6.4% year over year to reach 286,775 in April. Much of the increase was attributable to other commercial operations (+29.1%), including flight school activity.
In April, other international movements (outside the United States) were up 2.7% year over year to 18,094. Strong gains were reported at Vancouver International Airport (+14.1%), which recorded increased traffic to and from Asia compared with the previous year.
In contrast, transborder movements (to and from the United States) declined 2.3% from the previous year, falling to 34,270 in April. There was, for a second consecutive month, a gain reported at Calgary International Airport (+5.0%), as one carrier increased its offerings on transborder routes from this airport.
Focus on Canada and the United States
Transborder aircraft movements (to and from the United States) represented 10.1% of total itinerant movements at Canada's major and select small airports in April 2025, down from the 10.9% recorded in April 2024.
In April 2025, year-over-year declines in aircraft movements to and from the United States were recorded at three of the four largest Canadian airports: Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (-1.8%), Vancouver International (-6.1%) and Montréal/Pierre Elliot Trudeau International (-3.6%). In contrast, transborder movements at Calgary International increased 5.0%.
Meanwhile, the number of passengers carried by Canadian Level I air carriers on scheduled transborder flights in April was 10.7% below the level recorded in the same month of the previous year. This was the third consecutive year-over-year decline in passenger counts on scheduled transborder flights and the largest of the three declines. The total capacity of these flights, measured in available seat-kilometres, decreased 4.8%. The passenger load factor on scheduled transborder flights declined from 83.3% in April 2024 to 79.5% in April 2025.
For more data and insights on areas touched by the socio-economic relationship between Canada and the United States, see the Focus on Canada and the United States webpage.
Note to readers
This consolidated monthly release covers the following survey programs:
- Aircraft movement statistics (survey number 2715, tables 23-10-0296-01 to 23-10-0304-01)
- Monthly civil aviation statistics (survey number 5026, table 23-10-0079-01).
Consult the Aviation Data Visualization Hub to explore data from Aircraft movement statistics and Monthly civil aviation statistics in an interactive format.
The aviation statistics program uses respondent (Monthly civil aviation statistics) and administrative (Aircraft movement statistics) data.
An aircraft movement is defined as a take-off, landing or simulated approach by an aircraft, as defined by NAV CANADA.
An itinerant movement is the initial take-off or the final landing of an aircraft.
A domestic itinerant movement is defined as a movement, at a Canadian airport, of an aircraft departing to or arriving from another point in Canada.
A local movement is an aircraft conducting the following airport activities: touch-and-go, stop-and-go, simulated approach without landing, low approach, pull up while on final approach or missed approach. Local movements are often carried out during training flights (touch-and-go), equipment tests, etc.
On July 11, 2024, the flight service station at Peace River, British Columbia, was officially closed. Since August 2024, movements for Peace River Airport are excluded from Aircraft movement statistics. Data prior to August 2024 will continue to be available.
The Monthly Civil Aviation Survey covers all Canadian Level I air carriers: Air Canada (including Air Canada Rouge), Air Transat, Flair, Jazz, Porter, Sunwing and WestJet (including WestJet Encore).
The average passenger trip length is calculated by dividing the number of passenger-kilometres by the number of passengers. Trips across Canada and around the world are included in this calculation.
The data in this monthly release are not seasonally adjusted.
Data are subject to revisions.
Reference
Data tables: Access the latest tables.
- Note: some data tables may best be viewed on desktop.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers 2715 and 5026.
Previous release: Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics, March 2025.
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).