Airline traffic and airport aircraft movements diverged in August, according to new Statistics Canada figures.
Passengers rise
Major Canadian carriers flew 8.5 million passengers in August 2026, up 3.7% from a year earlier but roughly level with August 2024. Statistics Canada notes that an Air Canada flight-attendant strike affected the August 2025 comparison. The figures, released October 29, describe August activity rather than travel during the release week.
Capacity and revenue
Passenger-kilometres rose 7.8% to 24.4 billion while available seat-kilometres also increased 7.8%, leaving the passenger load factor at 88.2%. Average distance travelled reached 2,889 kilometres, up 3.9%. Carriers reported $3.3 billion in operating revenue, an increase of 15%; that is not a measure of profit.
Fewer aircraft movements
At major and selected smaller airports, total aircraft movements fell 3.6% to 553,695. Local movements, commonly associated with training, declined 8.1%, while itinerant movements decreased 1.8%. Canadian transborder movements rose 1.3%, and other international movements climbed 7.7%. These are different measures from passenger totals: a movement can be a takeoff, landing or simulated approach.
Why smaller airports differ
The report associates reductions in some light-aircraft activity with elevated aviation fuel prices. It also documents higher activity related to wildfire response at several southern British Columbia airports during August. Summer aircraft movements totalled 1.7 million, down 3.0% year over year. The release warns that these figures are not seasonally adjusted and may be revised.
Sources & transparency
Statistics Canada — Aircraft movement and civil aviation statistics, August 2026Original CDN News coverage. Sources are linked for reference.
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