Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics, September 2025

Highlights

Major Canadian airlines flew 7.2 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in September, up 2.3% from September 2024.

Aircraft movements at Canada's major and select small airports totalled 548,386 in September 2025, up 5.0% from the same month the previous year. Itinerant movements increased 4.2% year over year, while local movements rose 7.0%.

Consult the Aviation Data Visualization Hub to explore aircraft movement statistics and monthly civil aviation statistics in an interactive format.

Air travel resumes growth in September

Canadian Level I air carriers flew 7.2 million passengers on scheduled and charter services in September, 2.3% more than in September 2024. This was the first notable year-over-year increase since January 2025.

The number of passenger-kilometres rose 3.3% year over year to 20.6 billion in September, while capacity increased 3.9% to 25.0 billion available seat-kilometres. As a result, the passenger load factor (the ratio of passenger-kilometres to available seat-kilometres) was 82.4% in September, slightly below the 82.9% observed in September 2024.

Chart 1: Passenger load factor, Canadian air carriers, Level I

Each passenger travelled an average of 2,858 kilometres in September 2025, up 1.0% from the same month a year earlier.

Level I carriers flew 190,000 hours (+3.8%) in September and generated $2.7 billion (+7.5%) in total operating revenue.

Local and domestic itinerant movements remain strong

In September, flight school activity at Canada's major and select small airports contributed to the increase in local movements, which rose 7.0% year over year to 168,373. The airports with the largest increases were Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario (+3,698 movements) and Pitt Meadows, British Columbia (+2,048).

Chart 2: Total aircraft movements at major and select small airports, by class of operation

Domestic itinerant movements totalled 326,790 in September, up 5.0% compared with the same month the previous year. This level is slightly higher (+0.4%) than the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level from September 2019, marking the first time monthly traffic for the sector has surpassed pre-pandemic levels on a year-over-year basis.

Transborder movements (to and from the United States) declined 3.5% year over year to 37,215 in September 2025. This was the sixth consecutive monthly year-over-year decrease. Meanwhile, other international movements (outside the United States) rose 6.4% from the previous year to reach 16,008 in September.

Focus on Canada and the United States

Transborder aircraft movements (to and from the United States) represented 9.8% of total itinerant movements at Canada's major and select small airports in September 2025, down from 10.6% in September 2024.

In September 2025, year-over-year declines in movements to and from the United States were recorded at all four of the largest Canadian airports: Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (-2.3%), Vancouver International (-2.9%), Montréal/Pierre Elliot Trudeau International (-8.8%) and Calgary International (-7.6%).

Meanwhile, the number of passengers carried by Canadian Level I air carriers on scheduled transborder flights in September was 15.2% below the level recorded in the same month of 2024. This was the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year declines. Capacity of these flights, measured in available seat-kilometres, declined year over year for the sixth consecutive month in September 2025, down 12.6% from September 2024. The passenger load factor on scheduled transborder flights decreased from 79.9% in September 2024 to 75.0% in September 2025.

For more data and insights on areas touched by the socioeconomic relationship between Canada and the United States, see the Focus on Canada and the United States webpage.