MONTREAL, Jan. 6, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - For the month of December 2013, Air Canada reported a record system load factor of 82.7 per cent, versus 82.1 per cent in December 2012, an increase of 0.6 percentage points.  System traffic increased 4.8 per cent on a system-wide capacity increase of 4.0 per cent. For the full year 2013, load factor was a record 82.8 per cent, versus 82.7 per cent, an increase of 0.1 percentage points.  Air Canada reports traffic results on a system-wide basis, including Air Canada rouge^TM, which began operations on July 1, 2013, and regional airlines from which Air Canada purchases capacity.

"For both the month of December and full year 2013, Air Canada achieved record load factors of 82.7 and 82.8 per cent, respectively," said Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Led by an increase in traffic in the U.S. transborder market of 6.4 per cent, Air Canada generated greater traffic for the month of December in all markets the airline serves with system wide growth of 4.8 per cent on a capacity increase of 4.0 per cent.  These strong results, for both the month and full year, underscore the effectiveness of Air Canada's disciplined capacity management and our award winning product.  I want to thank our employees for taking care of the more than 35 million customers Air Canada served in 2013 and, above all, transporting them safely to their destination.  Their professionalism and efforts in earning our customers' loyalty have been recognized by many industry awards, including the selection of Air Canada by frequent world travelers as the Best Airline in North America. I also want to thank our operational and customer service teams in particular for their hard work taking care of passengers during the recent severe winter weather over the holiday season." 

In 2013, Air Canada was ranked for a fourth consecutive year "Best Airline in North America" in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers conducted by independent research firm Skytrax.  According to the 2013 Canadian Business Travel Survey conducted by Ipsos Reid, Air Canada was the preferred airline for more than 80 percent of frequent business travellers in Canada. In 2013, readers of Global Traveler magazine voted Air Canada "Best Airline in North America," the readers of Business Traveler voted Air Canada "Best North American Airline for International Travel" and "Best North American Airline Inflight Experience," and the readers of Premier Traveler voted Air Canada "Best North American Airline for International Travel" and "Best Flight Attendants in North America."

* 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 2013 served more than 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