December ushered in good news for Canada’s three largest airlines, with each posting strong passenger traffic and load factor gains from the previous month.
The largest player Air Canada saw its November passenger traffic jump by 7.5% on a capacity increase of 7.3%. The traffic increase marked the 11th consecutive month of gains for the airline. Load factor, reported on a consolidated basis with regional carrier Jazz, rose 0.1% to 74.8%.
WestJet raised its capacity for the month by a solid 15.3%, with the addition of new seasonal service between Toronto and New Orleans, Santa Clara, Cuba and Grand Cayman. But the airline was easily able to absorb the increased capacity, posting a 17.9% passenger traffic gain and a record load factor for the month of 77.7%.
The fastest-growing Canadian airline remains Porter, which increased capacity in November by 26.5% and enjoyed a traffic gain of 38.3% over the previous year. Its load factor jumped 4.6 percentage points to 54%. Porter says it had an industry-leading break-even factor of 49% in 2009.
Statements released by executives of all three carriers were buoyant in their response to results:
- Air Canada: "Led by over 19% traffic growth in the Pacific, we recorded an increase in traffic in all markets we serve - the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year traffic increases,” said Calin Rovinescu, President and CEO.
- WestJet: "We're encouraged by the strength of bookings from the business market and the demand for WestJet Vacations packages," President and CEO Gregg Saretsky said.
- Porter Airlines: "As the year draws to a close, revenue metrics are strong and we will post record numbers in many categories," said Robert Deluce, president and CEO.
