22°c Partly cloudy
10°c Sunny
The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION
Air Canada sees fewer empty seats in February, traffic and capacity lower
Air Canada agents process passengers at the airport in Halifax on June 10, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
MONTREAL - Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) reported Thursday that its planes were fuller in February.
The country's largest airline said it had a system load factor — a measure of how full its flights were for the month — of 79.8 per cent for February, up from 76.8 per cent a year ago.
The increase came as system traffic as measured by revenue passenger miles decreased 0.7 per cent and capacity measured as available seat miles slipped 4.4 per cent with one less day in the month compared with 2012.
"The difference in capacity and traffic from the previous year is attributed almost entirely to the additional day of operations reported for the February 2012 leap year, making those year-over-year comparisons less meaningful," Air Canada chief executive Calin Rovinescu said in a statement.
Air Canada said its Canadian flights had a load factor of 84.1 per cent compared with 81.1 per cent a year ago, while flights to the U.S. improved to 80 per cent from 78.4 per cent in February 2012.
The results at Air Canada compared with a load factor of 86.1 per cent at rival WestJet Airlines Ltd. (TSX:WJA), up from 82.7 per cent a year ago.
WestJet's passenger traffic for February increased by 7.3 per cent, while its capacity grew 3.1 per cent.
More Featured
- Back to Top
- Return to Featured
More Featured
(1 of 38 articles for this week)
When is it OK for wunderkinds to drop out of school? (Hey, it worked for Tumblr's founder!)
1:13 PM 0
Poll
Most Popular Featured
- David Arquette exits the 'Dancing With the Stars' ballroom
- Most food-poisoning cases originate in restaurants, according to study
- Getting bypassed in NFL draft can have its upsides as players get to do the picking
- Save the Children, drug company GSK announce new partnership to save children's lives
- 'Jurassic Park' flashback: Ariana Richards looks back on walking with dinosaurs
- Glocer to step down as CEO of Thomson Reuters amid struggles in markets division
- Shootups blamed on gang war
- Cheating spouses, paternity mysteries are big business for Maury Povich
- Spin doctors needed: Forecasting tornado season severity not quite possible yet, say experts
- Police: Reggae musician Matthew McAnuff killed in Jamaica
- Massage parlours rub therapists wrong way
- Rents hit the roof
- Les McKeown survives dark times to become 'born again Bay City Roller'
- Winnipegger convicted of importing coral rock, sea horses
- Property taxes going up again
- Shootups blamed on gang war
- Big changes coming to youth soccer in Winnipeg
- Red light? Green light?
- 'Self-inflicted wounds' that helped undo the Wildrose in Alberta election
- New documentary 'Aroused' examines the off-screen lives, complexities of female porn stars
- Massage parlours rub therapists wrong way
- Red River College's culinary institute open for classes
- Rents hit the roof
- Red light? Green light?
- Winnipegger convicted of importing coral rock, sea horses
- Shootups blamed on gang war
- Olympia Dukakis leads lesbian road movie 'Cloudburst'
- Les McKeown survives dark times to become 'born again Bay City Roller'
- Are Canadian kids undervaccinated? Or is it that we just don't know?
- Review: Kindle Fire looks nice, but $199 price comes with sacrifice
Ads by Google
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
Have Your Say
New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.