Air Canada load factor down in May 2012

There were more empty seats on Air Canada flights in May 2012. The Montreal-based carrier, while announcing its load factor, said that its load factor was 81.6 percent in May this year as compared to 82.2 percent in the same month in 2011. The airline’s load factor measures how much of its fleet capacity was used.

The airline also revealed that its system traffic increased 1.8 percent on a system-wide capacity increase of 2.5 percent.

Calin Rovinescu, President and CEO of Air Canada, said that the airline’s passenger traffic in the Pacific market increased 6.1 percent, while its Atlantic market traffic was up 5 percent.

The airline was recently confronted with labor problems including a bitter contract dispute with its pilots and mechanics.
 
Other Canadian carriers like WestJet Airlines and Porter Airlines put up a strong showing in May this year with an increase in their respective passenger traffic.

WestJet Airlines said that its load factor increased by 4.4 percentage points to 79.2 percent. Porter Airlines said that it carried 30,000 more passengers y-o-y with more than 212,000 passengers this May.