Airlines

Porter goes to Washington

Porter Airlines will begin service to Washington Dulles International Airport on April 16. It will be the carrier's sixth US destination with up to three daily roundtrip flights operating between Dulles and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport....

Visa Debit takes off at WestJet

Visa Canada and WestJet report that Canadian card holders can now use Visa Debit to purchase airline tickets online and through the airline's Sales Super Centre. According to officials, with Visa Debit, card holders can safely and conveniently pay directly from their bank account for air travel. Visa Debit allows one-step online electronic debiting of funds without requiring customers to sign in to their bank account, and is backed by Visa's multiple layers of security, which helps to reduce the risk of fraud through Visa's Zero Liability Policy, Verified by Visa, E-Promise, AVS (Address...

Air Canada reports December traffic

For the month of December, Air Canada reported a system load factor of 81%, versus 80.8% in December 2010, an increase of 0.2 percentage points. System traffic increased 3% on a system-wide capacity increase of 2.8%. Air Canada reports traffic results on a system-wide basis, including regional airlines from which Air Canada purchases capacity. "For the month of December and full year 2011, Air Canada recorded load factors of 81% and 81.6%, respectively,"said Air Canada president Calin Rovinescu. "Load factor for the full year was the second highest in Air Canada's history, surpassed only by...

Porter finishes 2011 with record 2.1 million passengers

Porter Airlines posted record passenger numbers for 2011, including a December load factor of 63.9%, 1.5 points higher than the previous year. More than 2.1 million passengers travelled with Porter during the year, which is another record compared to 1.56 million in 2010. December results show 117.6 million Available Seat Miles (ASMs) and 75.2 million Revenue Passenger Miles (RPMs). ASMs increased 26.7% from 92.8 million and RPMs grew 29.9% compared to 57.9 million last year. Overall, 2011 was another year of growth for the airline. New destinations initiated with Windsor and Sault Ste. Marie...

WestJet posts record December traffic results

WestJet reports record December 2011 traffic results with a load factor of 80.9%, tying its second highest December load factor ever. Revenue passenger miles (RPMs), or traffic, increased 8% year over year, and capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASMs), grew 7.1% over the same period. "We finished the year with strong traffic results confirming that our capacity continues to be absorbed by the market. We flew nearly 1.4 million guests this month, a new December record,"said WestJet president Gregg Saretsky. "We also achieved a new single-day record by flying approximately 53,000...

Lufthansa warns of possible fare increases

Beginning this year, all airlines are required to hold emission rights in the form of CO2 certificates for flights to and from Europe. In 2012, 82% of the necessary certificates will be awarded to airlines free of charge, however airlines will have to purchase another 15% of the certificates, with 3% being reserved for new airlines. As these allocations are based on average emissions for the years 2004 to 2006, the Lufthansa Group will have to buy at least 35% of the certificates it needs to represent its growth in recent years. Judging by the average trend in certificate prices, Lufthansa...

Feds move to streamline aviation security regulations

The federal government is taking steps to streamline the Canadian Aviation Security Regulations and ensure they reflect the current aviation security environment. "While current aviation security regulations are robust, our government is committed to improving them, making them as clear, user-friendly and efficient as possible while maintaining a high level of security,"said Minister of Transport Denis Lebel. "These initial changes further align our regulations to meet International Civil Aviation Organization commitments and reflect extensive consultation with industry stakeholders."The...

Air transport markets weaken in November

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports global traffic results for November showed a softening in passenger markets compared to a year ago. While passenger traffic was 4.3% above November 2010 levels, IATA officials say this is skewed as November 2010 was a particularly weak month. The softening in passenger markets becomes apparent when comparing to the previous month (October 2011). This shows a 0.5% decline on a seasonally adjusted basis. "Weak global economic performance is being reflected in air transport markets. Freight markets have contracted some 4% compared to...