Load factors at Canadian airlines rise

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}

TORONTO: Canada's three biggest airlines filled more of their available seats in July than a year earlier, with Air Canada, and Porter Airlines setting record highs for the month.

The third, WestJet Airlines, also showed a monthly gain, with its load factor rising to 81.6 percent from 80.7 the previous year. While capacity rose 7.2 percent, traffic rose 8.4 percent.

July and August are usually the two busiest months of the year for Canadian airlines.

Air Canada, the country's biggest carrier, said on Thursday its system-wide load factor rose to 86.4 percent in July from 84.9 percent in the same month a year earlier.

That's because capacity across the fleet rose 2.5 percent last month, while traffic rose 4.3 percent.

Closely held Porter Airlines set its own record in July with a load factor of 66.8 percent. While capacity rose 16.9 percent, traffic rose 26.1 percent over the same month in 2010.