Canadian airlines report healthy January capacity figures

By Rachel Constance on 7-Feb-2012

Canada’s two biggest airlines have both reported very positive passenger figures for January 2012, indicating a good start to the national aviation industry’s year.

Both Air Canada and WestJet airlines have reported that they flew much closer to full capacity than they did in 2011, and that a robust demand for air travel in a traditionally slow month for business travel, was giving buoyancy to prospects for new airline and aviation jobs.

Figures from Air Canada showed that the airline had a system-wide load factor of 79.1 per cent in January, up from 78 per cent in the same month in 2011. A 1.9 per cent increase in capacity over that period was easily absorbed by a healthy 3.3 per cent rise in traffic for the Canadian flag-carrying airline.

The second-biggest carried, WestJet – which flies largely to the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean as well as within Canada – saw its load factor rise to 79.9 per cent from 2011’s 77.8 per cent. Its 11.5 per cent increase in traffic safely outflanked its 8.5 per cent capacity increase.

WestJet’s president and chief executive, Gregg Saretsky, said that they will be reporting back imminently on whether their employees support plans to launch a new regional carrier in Canada, which could alter the structure of current jobs with the airline, as well as potentially create new aviation jobs.

Saretsky said, “Our capacity increases are being nicely absorbed and the healthy demand for air travel has continued into the new year.”