MONTREAL – Air Canada (TSX:AC) says its planes flew fuller in October as growth in traffic outpaced additional capacity.
The Montreal-based carrier’s system-wide load factor increased to 82.1 per cent from 81.3 per cent a year earlier on an 11 per cent increase in traffic and 9.9 per cent growth in capacity.
The results, which included low-cost subsidiary Rouge and regional airlines, were led by improvements in the transborder U.S. and Atlantic markets, the airline said Wednesday.
Transborder traffic grew 18 per cent on a 15 per cent increase in capacity, producing an 81.3 per cent load factor.
The Atlantic load factor increased to 80.1 per cent as demand grew 15.2 per cent, surpassing a 12.2 per cent increase in available seats.
Domestic traffic grew 7.9 per cent, outpacing a 7.7 per cent increase in capacity to push the load factor to 84 per cent.
The Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean markets flew less full planes as demand couldn’t quite keep up with added capacity.
Air Canada reports its third-quarter results Thursday morning.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story: A previous version gave an incorrect stock symbol
