All three of Canada’s major scheduled airlines have reported traffic and load factor gains for the month of October as the airline sector continues to show strong results.
In fact, Air Canada has reported a record system load factor of 80.3% on a consolidated basis with Jazz (from which Air Canada purchases regional capacity), versus 79.6% in October 2009. Traffic increased 9.3% on a system wide capacity increase of 8.3%.
"These record load factor results, led by a 6.0 percentage point year-over-year increase on the Pacific, were achieved as we continued to increase utilization of our existing fleet and deploy capacity to pursue strategic opportunities in international markets. As we reported in our third quarter financial results issued today, new international routes performed well. Traffic increased in all markets Air Canada serves, led by the Pacific with 25.1%... I thank our employees throughout the company for delivering an award winning product and meeting On-Time Performance Objectives for the month,” said Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer.
WestJet, Canada's second biggest carrier, said its load factor rose 0.1 points to 77.4%last month from October last year. The increase is small, but it came as the airline offered 13.3% more capacity, measured in available seat miles, than in October 2009.
"The increase in guests demonstrates that our increased capacity is being absorbed," said WestJet President and Chief Executive Gregg Saretsky.
"Advanced bookings are looking positive as well," he said.
Meanwhile, privately owned Porter Airlines, Canada's No. 3 scheduled carrier, said its load factor increased 4.7 points to 56.3 percent in October.
Porter's available seat miles rose 29.7 percent and revenue passenger miles increased 41.7 percent.
"We are seeing positive momentum continue with growth across all key measures," said Robert Deluce, Porter's president and CEO.
