Annual Civil Aviation Survey (ACAS)

Detailed information for 2023

This survey collects financial and operational data from the Canadian Level I, II, III and IV air carriers.

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology

Description

This survey collects financial and operational data from the Canadian Level I, II, III and IV air carriers. The data are used by Transport Canada and the Canadian Transportation Agency for measuring the growth and the performance of the airline industry. The information is also used by Statistics Canada as input to the Canadian System of National Accounts and by individual carriers for measuring company performance relative to their competitors. The information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Statistical activity

The survey is administered as part of the Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP). The IBSP program has been designed to integrate approximately 200 separate business surveys into a single master survey program. The IBSP aims at collecting industry and product detail at the provincial level while minimizing overlap between different survey questionnaires. The redesigned business survey questionnaires have a consistent look, structure and content. The integrated approach makes reporting easier for firms operating in different industries because they can provide similar information for each branch operation. This way they avoid having to respond to questionnaires that differ for each industry in terms of format, wording and even concepts. The combined results produce more coherent and accurate statistics on the economy.

Reference period: Fiscal year

Collection period: All year

Subjects

• Transportation
• Transportation by air
• Travel and tourism

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The universe of the Annual Civil Aviation surveys consists of all Canadian licensed carriers classified into levels I, II, III and IV. These carriers are licensed to perform commercial scheduled and/or charter transportation of passengers and/or goods. Level I includes every Canadian air carrier that, in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided, transported at least 2 million revenue passengers or at least 400,000 tons of cargo. Level II includes every Canadian air carrier that, in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided, transported at least 100,000 but fewer than 2 million revenue passengers or at least 50,000 but less than 400,000 tonnes of cargo. Level III includes every Canadian air carrier that, in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided, have revenues of at least 2 million dollars. Levels IV includes every Canadian air carrier that, in the calendar year before the year in which information is provided, have revenues of less than 2 million dollars.

Instrument design

The questionnaire comprises financial characteristics such as sources of revenue, expense detail and employment characteristics. Based on contacts with respondents and data users, some modifications have been incorporated into the questionnaires in order to reflect the nature of the industry surveyed. The changes were field tested to ensure that they were reasonable and sustainable.

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

Data are collected for all units of the target population, therefore no sampling is done. The carrier level and its main aviation activity are maintained on the Business Register for all Canadian licensed air companies. These specific fields are used to select carriers for each survey and to group them by homogeneous cells.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2024-04-19 to 2024-09-25

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents using an electronic or paper questionnaire.

For this survey, almost all data come from collection. Some questions are not directly asked to level I and II carriers but were already asked during the quarterly civil aviation survey (QCAS). So the data from the QCAS are annualized and used in ACAS.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s).