TORONTO — ********** and WestJet both reported record traffic in August filling close to 90% of their seats.

********** reported a record system load factor of 89.8%, versus 89.5% in August 2013, an all-time record for any month in the carrier’s history, representing an increase of 0.3 percentage points on a system-wide capacity increase of 10.4%. On this additional capacity, system wide traffic for August increased 10.8%.

********** reports traffic results on a system-wide basis, including ********** rouge, which began operations on July 1, 2013, and regional airlines from which ********** purchases capacity.

“We served more than four million customers, more than in any month in **********’s 77-year history,” said Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer. “********** generated greater traffic for the month of August in all markets led by significant increases in traffic in Atlantic and U.S. transborder markets. This is the fifth consecutive month ********** has set new records for system-wide passenger load factor.”

WestJet recorded an all-time record load factor of 89.3%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points year over year. Revenue passenger miles (RPMs), or traffic, increased 7.4% year over year, and capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASMs), grew 5.7% over the same period. The ******* flew a record 1.9 million guests in August, a year-over-year increase of 7.0% or approximately 126,000 additional guests, and achieved an on-time performance rate of 77.6% in the month, an improvement of 4.4 percentage points year over year.