MONTREAL/CALGARY — Both Air Canada and WestJet carried more passengers in April than in the same month in 2014 but load factor was down slightly.

Air Canada reported a system load factor of 83.2% versus 83.3% in April 2014, on a system-wide capacity increase of 7.5%. On this additional capacity, system wide traffic for April increased 7.4% for the month. Air Canada reports traffic results on a system-wide basis, including regional airlines from which Air Canada purchases capacity and Air Canada rouge.

According to Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer, “system wide, traffic grew 7.4%, led by significant growth in the U.S. transborder, Atlantic and Latin American and Caribbean markets. These strong traffic results underscore the effectiveness of our commercial strategy”.

Meanwhile WestJet reported April 2015 traffic results with a load factor of 80.2%, down 2.1 points. Revenue passenger miles (RPMs) or traffic increased 3.1% year-over-year, and capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASMs), grew 5.8% over the same period.

The airline flew 1.7 million guests in April, a year-over-year increase of 1.6% or approximately 27,000 additional guests, and achieved an on-time performance rate of 91.2%, a year-over-year improvement of 8.5 percentage points.