MONTREAL, Sept. 5, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - For the month of August, Air Canada reported a record system load factor of 89.5 per cent, versus 87.9 per cent in August 2012, an increase of 1.6 percentage points.  System traffic increased 4.7 per cent on a system-wide capacity increase of 2.9 per cent. Air Canada reports traffic results on a system-wide basis, including Air Canada rouge, which began operations on July 1, 2013, and regional airlines from which Air Canada purchases capacity.

"I am pleased to report a record load factor of 89.5 per cent for the month of August," said Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer.  "The increase in our load factor by 1.6 percentage points over the prior year underscores the effectiveness of our capacity management strategy. System wide, traffic grew 4.7 per cent, led by the Pacific, Atlantic and domestic Canada markets. This is the eighth consecutive month Air Canada has set new records system-wide for passengers boarded, and on August 15 we achieved a new single day record of 127,100 customers. During the month, we successfully completed the transfer of all 15 Embraer 175 aircraft to Sky Regional, our Air Canada Express partner, an important step in Air Canada's regional diversification strategy and our ongoing cost transformation program. I thank our employees for maintaining their focus on our operational performance which continues to show year-over-year improvements, while taking care of our customers and transporting them safely to their destination during this peak travel season."

* Australia has been reclassified to "Pacific" from "Latin America & Caribbean".

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 175 destinations on five continents. Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2012 served close to 35 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 60 Canadian cities, 49 destinations in the United States and 67 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,328 destinations in 195 countries. Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year. For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com. 

SOURCE Air Canada