How much did the airline industry recover since September 11, 2001?
•��Introduction Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 in the United States, important changes in the financial and operating statistics of airline activities in Canada have taken place. In particular, most airline companies have seen a deterioration of their financial positions, the number of flights and of seats available have generally decreased and security measures have increased. The aim of this paper is to examine the post-September 11th aviation market in Canada with respect to one key operating characteristic: the number of flights of airline companies operating in Canada. More specifically, the following questions are addressed: was there a recovery in airline activities in Canada since September 11th? Were all losses in all sectors recovered (domestic, transborder, international)? Were all losses at all airports recovered? This paper is divided into three sections. Data sources and limitations, the scope of this research and the methodological approach used are described in the first section. The second section highlights the main results obtained and discusses these results in the context of the recent trends in airline activities in Canada. Lastly, some conclusions are offered, based on the evidence collected and analyzed. Section 1 (a) Data source and limitations Canadian and foreign airline companies operating in Canada have reduced significantly their number of flights available since September 2001. But how much decrease in the number of flights has occurred and to what extent the industry is recovering, if at all? The Aircraft Movement Statistics (AMS) Survey can be used to shed some light on these questions. These monthly statistics are based on aircraft movements as reported by the air traffic control units at the Nav Canada control towers. AMS data constitute a good indicator of overall airline activities in Canada both by type of operation - civil (commercial, government and private) vs.
