Air Canada's load factor on its mainline system rose to a record 84.3 percent last month, up from 83.8 percent in May 2007.
The gains show Canada's air travel market remained robust last month, even as US airlines struggled to cope with high fuel costs and a faltering economy.
Air Canada added fuel surcharges to ticket prices last month to recoup costs as oil rose above USD$120 a barrel.
Available seat miles on its mainline system increased 4.7 percent to 4.69 billion from 4.48 billion in May 2007.
The carrier's combined operations, which include results from its Jazz Air regional unit, posted a load factor of 83.2 percent in May, up 0.3 percentage points.
Combined capacity rose 4 percent to 5.17 billion available seat miles while revenue passenger miles climbed 4.5 percent to 4.31 billion.
Jazz's load factor fell 2.1 percentage points in May to 72.4 percent. The regional airline's capacity fell 2.6 percent, to 482 million available seat miles, while traffic fell 5.4 percent to 349 million revenue passenger miles.
