Canada-Europe aviation: airlines exit and major operators consolidate

Seat numbers between Canada and Europe are barely growing this summer compared with summer 2018. This follows five years of strong growth between summer 2013 and summer 2018. The exits of WOW air and fifth freedom operator Jet Airways help to explain the pause in growth in a market where seat share has been consolidating.

Canada-Europe is dominated by Canadian airlines, which share 64% of seats between three of them. The merger of the top two, Air Canada and Air Transat, will lead to a 59% seat share in this market. The Star JV dominates the other North Atlantic JVs.

The leading European airline, Lufthansa, has 6% of Canada-Europe seats. LCC seat share is only 5%, the majority of this operated by WestJet, with Norwegian and LEVEL also present. However, this does not include Air Canada Rouge, which has more routes to Europe than WestJet.

The CAPA Canada Aviation Summit in Winnipeg on 9-10 September 2019 will include a panel on Canada's trans Atlantic market. This report gives some background for that discussion.