Passenger Traffic Up at Air Canada, WestJet

Passenger traffic increased in June over the same month a year ago at both Air Canada and WestJet.

Figures released by the airlines show revenue passenger miles, which measures the number of paying passengers multiplied by distance flown, grew by 7.3 percent to 3.99 billion at Air Canada and by 22.4 percent to 615.4 million at WestJet. Both airlines also increased passenger capacity over June 2004.

Available seat miles, which calculates the number of seats available for sale multiplied by distance flown, rose 4.7 percent to 4.9 billion at Air Canada and by 19.8 percent to 837.8 million at WestJet.

The carriers also enjoyed higher load factors, which measure the proportion of available seat miles occupied by paying passengers.

Air Canada´s load factor increased by 1.9 percentage points to 81.3 percent - the highest ever for June - while WestJet´s rose by 1.6 percentage points to 73.5 percent.