Image description: Air Transportation Network
The map of Canada shows the 26 airports of the NAS. Each airport, represented by a black plane in a white circle, is identified geographically to illustrate basic air infrastructure. Seven of these airports are located in the Atlantic Provinces, three in Québec, four in Ontario, six in the Prairie Provinces and three in British Columbia. Three other airports are found in the capital of each territory.
Key traffic and volume statistics
Canada’s air transportation system connects Canada to the world and moves passengers across the country which spans six time zones and covers about 18 million square kilometers.
Canadian airspace is managed by NAV CANADA, a privately run, not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada’s civil air navigation system. It operates air traffic control towers at 42 airports and flight service stations at 55 airports.
The Canada Flight Supplement and Canada Water Aerodrome Supplement listed 1999 certified and registered sites in 2021, and 12 other military landing sites. The sites fall into three categories:
- 344 water aerodromes for float and ski planes
- 420 heliports for helicopters, and
- 1,247 land aerodromes for fixed-wing aircraft
Image description: Air Transportation infographic
In 2021, Canada had
- 37,073 Canadian registered aircraft
- 25,007 licensed pilots
- 2,186 licence authorities, held by
- 1,386 air carriers operating in Canada (40% Canadian and 60% foreign)
Canada also had
- 16,002 aircraft maintenance engineers
- 859 approved maintenance organizations
- 565 certified aerodromes
- 1,446 non-certified aerodromes
Table 1: Volume highlights from some domestic Canadian airlines
Airline |
Highlights |
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Air Canada |
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WestJet |
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Porter Airlines |
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Air Transat |
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Sunwing Airlines |
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