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.
Canada’s air transportation system connects Canada to the world and moves passengers across the country which spans across six time zones and covers about 18 million square kilometers.
Canada’s 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 40 airports and flight service stations at 55 airports.
For a detailed representation of the National Airport System, refer to Map 5 in Annex.
The Canada Flight Supplement and Canada Water Aerodrome Supplement listed 2,004 certified and registered sites in 2020 as well as 12 additional military landing sites.Footnote 1 The sites fall into 3 categories:
- 344 water aerodromes for float and ski planes
- 418 heliports for helicopters
- 1,254 land aerodromes for fixed-wing aircraft
Image description - Air Transportation infographic
In 2020, Canada had
- 36,918 Canadian registered aircraft
- 31,522 licensed pilots
- 2,187 licence authorities, held by
- 1,389 air carriers operating in Canada (40% Canadian and 60% foreign)
Canada also had
- 16,002 aircraft maintenance engineers
- 869 approved maintenance organizations
- 565 certified aerodromes
- 1,451 non-certified aerodromes
Air Canada
In 2020, Air Canada’s domestic network, operated by its mainline and Air Canada Express, accounted for 55% of available seat-kilometres in the domestic air market .Footnote 2Footnote 3 Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada Rouge, the company’s lower-cost subsidiary, operated an average of 1,531 scheduled flights per day. The Air Canada network has 3 hubs (Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver). Prior to the pandemic, Air Canada provided scheduled passenger services to 61 Canadian destinations, 50 US destinations and 74 other foreign destinations on six continents. With the onset of the pandemic, Air Canada reduced the scope of its network.
As of December 31, 2020, Air Canada’s fleet of aircraft, including those that were grounded for want of demand due the pandemic, totalled 169 aircraft for the mainline, 136 for the 2 third-party air carriers doing business as Air Canada Express, and 39 for Air Canada Rouge.
WestJet
In 2020, WestJet and WestJet Encore accounted for 31% of available seat-kilometres in the domestic air market. The WestJet network has 3 domestic hubs (Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver). The airline had provided, pre-COVID, scheduled passenger services to 36 Canadian destinations, 24 US destinations and 35 other foreign destinations. From April 2020, WestJet reduced the scope of its network due to the pandemic, providing scheduled passenger services to 36 Canadian destinations, 9 US destinations and 10 other foreign destinations. At year end, WestJet’s fleet, including those that were grounded due to the pandemic, included 121 aircraft, while WestJet Encore had 50 aircraft.
Other carriers
In 2020, Porter Airlines, a regional carrier based at Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport, had been using a fleet of 29 Q400 turboprop aircraft to provide direct, non-stop scheduled passenger services to 15 destinations in Canada and 5 in the US, prior to temporarily suspending operations on March 21, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Air Transat was the largest leisure carrier in Canada for 2019, with a fleet of up to 48 aircraft, depending on the season. Air Transat served 39 international destinations in 18 countries pre-COVID. Air Transat resumed limited operations in August 2020.
Sunwing Airlines is Canada’s second largest leisure carrier. It operated over 30 aircraft, depending on the season, and served 37 international destinations in 17 countries pre-COVID. Sunwing served 24 destinations in 12 countries since April 2020.
International air services developments
In 2020, foreign operators offered 1.13 million scheduled seats from Canada on an average of 310 flights per day.