Statement 3(I,II)

1. Introduction

The Revenue Passenger Origin‑Destination (O&D) Survey is conducted continuously by all Canadian air carriers assigned to reporting Level I and Level II that, in each of the two years immediately preceding the reporting year, enplaned 300,000 or more scheduled revenue passengers using fixed wing aircraft. The data are collected for Transport Canada by the Aviation Statistics Centre (ASC) of Statistics Canada under the authority of the Canada Transportation Act, Section 50, and the Statistics Act – RSC 1985, Chapter S19.

The O&D Survey covers revenue passenger trips made in whole or in part on domestic and/or international scheduled flights. Carriers must report such trips if (i) they operated one or more segments of the itineraries and (ii) no other carrier participating in the survey operated any preceding segments. Reporting is based on information obtained from lifted flight coupons (or their electronic equivalent). As carriers are to report only a sample of their itineraries, only tickets with numbers ending in zero are to be reported. The complete ticket itinerary is recorded as one entry for each trip, show the routing from the initial origin to the final ticket destination and including, in sequence, each point of intraline or interline transfer, the carrier (both operating and advertised for codeshared segments) and the fare basis code on each flight coupon stage as well as the total value of the ticket in Canadian dollars.

This document details the requirements of the O&D Survey as well as the instructions on how the data are to be reported.

2. The Survey Universe

The O&D Survey universe includes all revenue passenger trips moving in whole or in part on domestic and/or international flights operated by participating air carriers. Lifted, or “honoured”, flight coupons (or evidence of travel on electronic tickets) from all scheduled flights of the reporting carrier must be examined to identify any tickets that meet the Survey selection requirements. The O&D Survey must not be limited to the tickets that the reporting carrier issues. The Survey must include all tickets from which the reporting carrier lifts one or more coupons as well as electronic tickets in which the carrier transported a passenger. The flight coupon or the electronic ticket sale record can be the source of the data to be examined. For traditional tickets, the passenger ticket itinerary information to be reported in the O&D Survey can be recorded from the ticket coupon that the airline lifts first. There is no requirement to wait until a trip has been completed to report the ticket itinerary information. Coupons from a conjunction ticket set shall be considered as a single itinerary under the ticket number of the primary (first) ticket of the conjunction set.

It is recognized that many airlines do not record the entire itinerary from tickets issued by other airlines (OA tickets) for revenue accounting purposes. However, the reporting carrier is required to obtain the complete itinerary data for tickets issued by other airlines in order to determine if the ticket meets the selection requirements to be included in the Survey.

2.1 Honoured Tickets

There are instances where a reporting carrier may honour the ticket of another carrier (noncode-share partner), and transport the passenger without re-issuing the ticket. In these cases, the reporting carrier should treat the ticket as if it had actually been re-issued and report it accordingly. This includes changing the air carrier code of the ticketing carrier from the one on the ticket to the carrier that honoured the ticket.

3. Sample Selection and Reporting Criteria

The O&D Survey data represent a 10% sample of tickets in which a participating carrier transported the passenger(s) on at least one segment of the ticketed journey. Each participating airline must examine (i) all flight coupons from traditional tickets as well as (ii) any electronic tickets, including Automated Ticket and Baggage (ATB) tickets for passengers on all of the carrier’s scheduled flights throughout its system. This requirement applies to tickets issued by the reporting airline as well as tickets issued by other airlines.

Tickets to be retained for further consideration are:

1. Group-tickets with 11 or more passengers regardless of the ticket serial number.
2. Single-passenger tickets with serial numbers ending in the digit zero (not the check digit). (For conjunction tickets¹, the serial number for the first ticket booklet determines the reportability of the entire conjunction set.)
3. Group tickets with 10 or less passengers with serial numbers ending in the digit zero (not the check digit).

3.1 Optional use of 100 percent sample in lieu of a 10 percent sample

In certain markets or in special situations (e.g. on-board sales on shuttle services), a carrier may elect to use a 100 percent sample. In such cases, prior approval for use of this option must be obtained from the Aviation Statistics Centre. Similarly, if the option has been adopted, it may not be discontinued without prior approval by the Aviation Statistics Centre. The rules for selecting the reportable flight coupons under such optional reporting will be developed between the individual carrier and the Aviation Statistics Centre. In other special cases, in order to improve sample accuracy or to prevent distortions, the Aviation Statistics Centre may request a carrier to employ a 100 percent sample.

4. Conversion of Ticket Itinerary to the Required Dual-Carrier Format

The ASC requires that passenger itineraries be reported with the operating and the advertised carrier identified on each trip segment. The reporting carrier must identify the advertised carrier and record it in advertised carrier field for each segment.

Each reporting air carrier must also identify itself as the operating carrier (in the operating carrier field) on each segment of the itinerary on which it has or will transport the passenger(s).

The reporting air carrier must also identify the operating carrier on each flight segment on which it is the advertised carrier. However, the reporting carrier is not responsible for reporting the operating carrier of a codeshared flight in the reported itinerary if the reporting carrier is not in a codesharing relationship with the advertised carrier for that flight.

5. Identification of Reporting Carrier

The first operating participating carrier² in a trip is responsible for reporting to the survey since it is the operating carrier that generally lifts the ticket and is therefore the one most likely to have the information necessary for reporting.

6. Information to be Reported to the O&D Survey

The following items are to be reported for each ticket selected for the Survey (see Appendix B for the actual record layout). Note that conjunction tickets and re-issued tickets do not require special treatment and are to be treated the same as regular tickets. No adjustment is made in the survey for alterations or changes in itinerary which take place subsequent to the trip segment covered by the reportable flight coupon or its electronic equivalent.

6.1 Number of passengers

This is the number of passengers listed for the ticket. For tickets covering 1 to 10 passengers, include the actual number of passengers. A half-fare passenger, such as a child, is to be counted as one passenger. A fractional-fare passenger, such as in a family plan, is also to be counted as one passenger. Tickets for infants under two years of age and not occupying a seat are not to be counted. Passengers flying on “frequent flyer” redemptions are counted as passengers³. If a reporting air carriers issues tickets covering more than 10 passengers, the passenger counts associated with these tickets are to be divided by 10 and then rounded to the nearest whole passenger. (Carriers may contact the Aviation Statistics Centre regarding possible alternate approaches to reporting tickets for more than passenger.)

6.2 Carrier – Routing Detail

The data reported for each passenger trip should show the complete routing from the origin airport to the destination airport including each airport where the passenger made a connection or a stopover (intraline or interline). In addition, for each segment in the itinerary, the reporting airline must report the advertised carrier (the carrier whose code and flight number appear on the face of the coupon or in the ticket itinerary) and the operating carrier (the airline that actually provided the transportation) if it is a partner to the reporting airline in a code-share relationship on that segment. For segments not flown by the reporting airline or one of its code-share partners and not advertised on the reporting airline or one of its code-share partners, the operating carrier should be the same as the advertised carrier. The specific reportable data elements representing carrier-routing detail are as follows:

1. IATA code for the airport of origin of the segment. This is the airport at which the passenger boarded the flight.
2. IATA code for the operating airline, or the airline providing the transportation. If the reporting airline or an airline honouring the reporting airline’s coupon is transporting the passenger, insert that airline’s code in the operating carrier field for the coupon. If the reporting airline or one of its code-share partners is not the operating airline, use the code of the advertised airline in the operating carrier field.
3. IATA code for the advertised airline, or the airline appearing on the flight coupon. Note that this is not necessarily the airline issuing the ticket.
4. Fare basis code. This refers to the one-character fare basis codes originating with the US DOT. Air carrier fare basis codes are to be converted to these codes (see Appendix E for a list of the codes).
5. IATA code for the airport of destination of the segment. This is the second airport of the coupon, which represents either the trip termination, a point of intraline or interline connection, stopover, or change-of-gauge. For traditional tickets, points of intraline and interline connections may be taken from the “From” and “To” boxes in the “Good for Passage” section of the ticket and from the fare ladder box.
6. Where surface transportation is indicated in an itinerary, use the code “--” (dash dash). Omit any surface portions, which appear at the beginning or end of an itinerary. If a carrier is not known, use the code “UK” (unknown). Helicopter and air taxi portions of itineraries are to be retained and recorded.

6.3 Total Value of the Ticket (including taxes) in Canadian dollars

If the number of passengers on the ticket is between 2 and 10, divide the total value of the ticket by the number of passengers reported. If the number of passengers on the ticket was more than 10, divide the total value of the ticket by the original number of passengers on the ticket (not the number of passengers resulting from dividing by 10).

Carriers are responsible for reporting total ticket value for bulk fare tickets or inclusive tour tickets sold either directly to passengers or through tour operators. Where such tickets contain no fare information, the reporting carrier must report the value of the ticket that the reporting airline received from the tour operator. This can be derived by dividing the monthly contract revenue received by the airline from the tour operator for a city-pair by the number of passengers who travelled in the city-pair using tickets covered by the contract.

Only if the total ticket value cannot be determined from the ticket or calculated from bulk fare contracts, the reporting airline may use 99999 in the fare field.

7. Aggregating Recorded Data

Prior to the submission of each quarterly report to the Aviation Statistics Centre, each carrier is to sort the recorded entries into alphabetic sequence by itinerary, i.e. by origin, complete routing and ticket destination. All identical entries are then to be combined into one summary record each quarter.

The number of passengers on the summary records is to be the sum of the passenger amounts of all the individual identical records combined.

8. Sources of Data for Reporting

Airlines that are required to participate in the O&D Survey must use all possible sources of information needed to report complete and accurate itinerary data. Many international passengers travel using conjunction tickets. Also, many travellers are issued the Automated Ticket and Baggage (ATB) tickets. Coupons from the traditional ticket (two or four coupon with the from-to-to-to-to and flight number boxes) may supply the information needed to help the reporting carrier meet the reporting requirements of the O&D Survey. However, the traditional tickets may not supply all of the information needed, especially if the ticket is a part of a conjunction set.

It is nearly impossible to report complete and accurate O&D data from ATB tickets because each coupon does not contain the flight numbers which can be used to identify the operating carrier and the airport code for other segments of the trip.

If a lifted coupon (or its electronic equivalent) does not contain all the information needed to help the reporting airline to report the required O&D Survey data then the airline must obtain the information from additional sources. If the reporting airline also issued the ticket, then the airline may need to examine its ticket sales data or its Transaction Control Number (TCN) records to assist it in reporting the entire itinerary, operating carriers and airport codes in an accurate manner.

If the lifted coupon (or its electronic equivalent) is part of a ticket issued by another airline (OA), then the reporting carrier is responsible for obtaining all of the itinerary information that it needs from the issuing carrier. If the ticket is issued by a code-share partner of the reporting carrier or by another air carrier that belongs to a marketing alliance that includes a Canadian air carrier, then the reporting carrier must obtain the information from the issuing carrier that will help it to report the entire itinerary, in the report for the applicable quarter.

9. Statement of Procedures

Each airline that participates in the Origin and Destination Survey is required to prepare and send to the Aviation Statistics Centre a statement of the procedures to be used to select, record, summarize, edit and report the survey data. Any changes made to O&D Survey processing must be approved by the Aviation Statistics Centre prior to their implementation. The Statement of Procedures should provide enough detail for the Aviation Statistics Centre to understand the carrier’s flow of processing of tickets, the selection and reporting decisions, methods used to identify the operating carrier, editing and management responsibility and supervision.

10. Submission of Reports

Reports are to be filed with the Aviation Statistics Centre for each quarter of the year, within thirty (30) days after the end of each quarter. The data should be submitted in text file format. The O&D survey data may be submitted in any one of the following forms:

• A 3.5” diskette; or
• A compact disk; or
• By e-mail.

10.1 Reporting on Diskette or Compact Disk

Where O&D Survey data are submitted on floppy diskettes or compact disk, the diskettes or compact disks should be labelled externally with the following information

• “Passenger Origin and Destination”
• Carrier Code
• Reporting Period (YYQ)
• Reporting Carrier Contact Name and Phone Number

Diskettes or compact disks should be sent to:

• Aviation Statistics Centre
• Transportation Division
• Statistics Canada
• Room 1506, Main Building
• 120 Parkdale Avenue
• Ottawa, Ontario
• K1A 0T6

Attention: Revenue Passenger Origin-Destination Survey

10.2 Reporting by e-mail

If O&D Survey data are provided by e-mail, the files should be sent to:

• kathie.davidson@statcan.ca

11. Record Retention

Participating airlines are required to retain all passenger ticket itinerary information used to prepare the Origin and Destination Survey reports for three years. Records should be retained to enable the airline to reconstruct the O&D Survey reports for the latest three years (twelve quarters). The method of storage and retrieval of stored records must be identified in the carrier’s Statement of Procedures.

Appendix A: Canadian Air Carriers Participating in the O&D Survey

Canadian Air Carriers Participating in the O&D Survey

Air Carrier	Code
Air Canada	AC
Jazz Air Inc.	QK
Air Transat	TS

Appendix B: O&D Survey Record Layout

O&D Survey Record Layout

Field Number	Data Item	Location of Data
1	Passenger Count	1-6
2	1st Airport Code	7-9
3	1st Operating Carrier	10-11
4	1st Advertised Carrier	12-13
5	Fare Basis Code	14
6	2nd Airport Code	15-17
7	2nd Operating Carrier	18-19
8	2nd Advertised Carrier	20-21
9	Fare Basis Code	22
10	3rd Airport Code	23-25
11	3rd Operating Carrier	26-27
12	3rd Advertised Carrier	28-29
13	Fare Basis Code	30
14	4th Airport Code	31-33
15	4th Operating Carrier	34-35
16	4th Advertised Carrier	36-37
17	Fare Basis Code	38
18	5th Airport Code	39-41
19	5th Operating Carrier	42-43
20	5th Advertised Carrier	44-45
21	Fare Basis Code	46
22	6th Airport Code	47-49
23	6th Operating Carrier	50-51
24	6th Advertised Carrier	52-53
25	Fare Basis Code	54
26	7th Airport Code	55-57
27	7th Operating Carrier	58-59
28	7th Advertised Carrier	60-61
29	Fare Basis Code	62
30	8th Airport Code	63-65
31	8th Operating Carrier	66-67
32	8th Advertised Carrier	68-69
33	Fare Basis Code	70
34	9th Airport Code	71-73
35	9th Operating Carrier	74-75
36	9th Advertised Carrier	76-77
37	Fare Basis Code	78
38	10th Airport Code	79-81
39	10th Operating Carrier	82-83
40	10th Advertised Carrier	84-85
41	Fare Basis Code	86
42	11th Airport Code	87-89
43	11th Operating Carrier	90-91
44	11th Advertised Carrier	92-93
45	Fare Basis Code	94
46	12th Airport Code	95-97
47	12th Operating Carrier	98-99
48	12th Advertised Carrier	100-101
49	Fare Basis Code	102
50	13th Airport Code	103-105
51	13th Operating Carrier	106-107
52	13th Advertised Carrier	108-109
53	Fare Basis Code	110
54	14th Airport Code	111-113
55	14th Operating Carrier	114-115
56	14th Advertised Carrier	116-117
57	Fare Basis Code	118
58	15th Airport Code	119-121
59	15th Operating Carrier	122-123
60	15th Advertised Carrier	124-125
61	Fare Basis Code	126
62	16th Airport Code	127-129
63	16th Operating Carrier	130-131
64	16th Advertised Carrier	132-133
65	Fare Basis Code	134
66	17th Airport Code	135-137
67	17th Operating Carrier	138-139
68	17th Advertised Carrier	140-141
69	Fare Basis Code	142
70	18th Airport Code	143-145
71	18th Operating Carrier	146-147
72	18th Advertised Carrier	148-149
73	Fare Basis Code	150
74	19th Airport Code	151-153
75	19th Operating Carrier	154-155
76	19th Advertised Carrier	156-157
77	Fare Basis Code	158
78	20th Airport Code	159-161
79	20th Operating Carrier	162-163
80	20th Advertised Carrier	164-165
81	Fare Basis Code	166
82	21st Airport Code	167-169
83	21st Operating Carrier	170-171
84	21st Advertised Carrier	172-173
85	Fare Basis Code	174
86	22nd Airport Code	175-177
87	22nd Operating Carrier	178-179
88	22nd Advertised Carrier	180-181
89	Fare Basis Code	182
90	23rd Airport Code	183-185
91	23rd Operating Carrier	186-187
92	23rd Advertised Carrier	188-189
93	Fare Basis Code	190
94	24th Airport Code	191-193
95	Blank	194-195
96	Total Ticket Value ($Cdn)	196-200

Appendix C: Glossary of Terms

Selected terms used in these instructions are defined and explained herein in the context applicable to these instructions. They are not intended to be general definitions for use beyond the confines of this passenger survey.

Carrier

• Carrier: Any scheduled air carrier, Canadian or foreign, that appears on a coupon stage in a ticket itinerary, including helicopter and taxi carriers.
• Advertised Carrier: The airline whose code and flight # appear on the flight coupon or in the ticket itinerary
• Operating Carrier: The air carrier that actually operated the advertised flight. The operating carrier may advertise its own flight and allow another airline to also advertise the same flight. In some situations, the code-share operator does not advertise service under its own name and only operates flights for the airline advertising the service.
• Participating Carrier: A carrier which is governed by the survey data collection and reporting instructions contained herein and which is required to file O & D reports with the Aviation Statistics Centre.
• Reporting Carrier: The carrier in a given itinerary which has lifted the reportable flight coupon and recorded the itinerary for inclusion in a data submission to the Passenger Origin-Destination Survey.

Connection:

• Interline Connection: A passenger’s transfer from a flight operated by one airline to another flight operated by another airline, with or without a stopover, at an intermediate point in an itinerary.
• Intraline Connection: A passenger’s transfer from one flight to another flight at an intermediate point in an itinerary, where both flights are operated by the same air carrier.

Lifted Flight Coupon (or Electronic Equivalent): A passenger ticket coupon, good for travel on a single flight, that has been either removed by the transporting airline at the time of passenger boarding or surrendered by the passenger in exchange for a boarding pass.The electronic equivalent would be any evidence of passenger travel on a flight that is part of a ticket itinerary.

Change of Gauge: The planned change from one aircraft to another or from an aircraft of one size to that of another size in the itinerary of a single flight number. For example, a flight from Sidney to Los Angeles may operate from Sydney to Auckland with a B767 and from Auckland to Los Angeles with a B747. For the purposes of O&D Survey reporting, a passenger with a SYD-LAX coupon should be reported as SYD-AKL-LAX such that the point of change of gauge is inserted in the reported itinerary.

Fare Ladder: The "For‑issuing‑office only" box of the ticket.

Itinerary: All points in the passenger journey, beginning with the origin, followed by the routing, and ending with the destination, in the sequence shown on the ticket.

Point:

• Point: A city or airport (including heliports).
• Intermediate Point: Any point in an itinerary, other than the origin or destination, at which the passenger makes an interline or intraline connection.

Revenue Passenger: A person for whose transportation an air carrier receives commercial remuneration. This definition includes, for example, (I) passengers travelling under publicly available promotional offers (“two-for-one”) or loyalty programs (“frequent flyers”); (ii) passengers travelling as compensation for denied boarding; (iii) passengers travelling at corporate discounts ; (iv) passengers travelling on preferential fares (government, seamen military, youth, student). This definition excludes, for example, (I) persons travelling free; (ii) persons travelling at a fare or discount available to employees of air carriers or their agents or only for travel on the business of the carriers; (iii) infants who do not occupy a seat.

Routing: The carrier on each flight coupon stage in an itinerary and the intermediate points of connection (interline and intraline) in the sequence of occurrence in the movement of the passengers from origin to destination.

Scheduled Service: The operation of a flight on a regular basis according to a published timetable and available to the public on short notice.

Surface Segment: Ground transportation (bus, rail, boat) that is included as part of a ticketed air itinerary and the total value of the ticket.

Ticket:

• Group‑Fare Ticket: A single ticket valid for the transportation of two or more revenue passengers over the same itinerary.
• Single‑Passenger Ticket: A passenger ticket valid for transportation of only one revenue passenger over a given itinerary.
• Reissued Ticket: A ticket issued in exchange for all or part of the unused portion of a previously issued ticket.
• Conjunction Ticket: Two or more tickets concurrently issued to a passenger which in total constitute a single travel document for a single ticket itinerary.
• Electronic Ticket: A computer record of a ticketed passenger itinerary and fare that is used by the airline and the passenger in place of a standard printed ticket.

Ticket Origin: The first point in the itinerary and the point where the passenger first boards an air carrier.

Ticket Destination: The last point in the itinerary and the last point at which the passenger is to deplane at the completion of the journey. (In round‑trip itineraries, the ticket destination and the ticket origin are the same.)

Ticket Number: The sequential number on a ticket, consisting of a three-digit carrier number and a ten-digit document number. The check digit is excluded. For the purposes of identifying zero-ending tickets for inclusion in the sample for the O&D Survey, it is the tenth digit of the document number which is to be considered. The ticket number is also known as the document control number or form and serial number.

Ticketless Travel: Travel without the use of a standard, printed ticket. The passenger receives a receipt for payment and an itinerary. An electronic record of the passenger itinerary and fare is held in the airline’s sales record computer system.

Appendix D: Summary of Sample Selection Logic

Step 1: Tickets Issued by Reporting Airline or Other Airlines

Step 2: Is the Ticket for a Group of 11+ passengers?

• If Yes, go to Step 4
• If No, go to Step 3

Step 3: Does the ticket number end in zero?

• If Yes, go to Step 4
• If No, do not report Ticket to O&D Survey

Step 4: If this is a Conjunction Ticket, is this the first Booklet?

• If Yes, go to step 5
• If No, do not report Ticket to O&D Survey

Step 5: Was the ticket first used during the Quarter being Processed?

• If Yes, go to Step 6
• If No, do not report Ticket to O&D Survey

Step 6:

• Determine Operating Carrier for all Trip Segments on which Reporting Carrier or its Affiliate was or will Transport the Passenger.
• Convert the Fare Basis Code on Each Coupon to one of the U.S.DOT\StatsCan O&D Survey Fare Basis reporting codes.
• Is Reporting Carrier the First Operating Carrier in the Ticket Itinerary?
• If Yes, go to Step 7
• If No, do not report Ticket to O&D Survey

Step 7: Report Entire Ticketed Itinerary to O&D Survey

Appendix E: U.S. Department of Transportation / Statistics Canada Origin and Destination Survey Codes for Reporting Fare Basis Information in the Itinerary Record

Seven single-character codes, created by the U.S. Office of Airline Information, are to be used for reporting fare basis information in the Origin and Destination Survey. These codes are designed to provide identification for unrestricted (full) and restricted (discount) fares in first class, business class and coach class categories and a code for an unknown fare basis. The O&D Survey fare basis reporting codes are:

• F  -  Unrestricted First Class
• G  -  Restricted First Class
• C  -  Unrestricted Business Class
• D  -  Restricted Business Class
• Y  -  Unrestricted Coach/Economy Class
• X  -  Restricted Coach/Economy Class
• U  -  Unknown  (This fare category is used when a fare basis code is not shown on a ticket coupon, or when you cannot read the fare basis code, or when two or more carrier fare codes are compressed into a single coupon.)

“Unrestricted” includes all fares not subject to restrictions other than time of day, such as night and off-peak fares.  These categories include all “full” or “premium” fares (F, C, P, W, Y, J, R), plus all otherwise unrestricted off-peak fares (FN, YN, CN, and KN) and the “economy” (K) fares.

“Restricted” includes any fare subject to significant restrictions, such as, advanced purchase requirements, minimum or maximum stay, refund penalty, membership in a particular group (military, youth, clergy), tour package and similar characteristics.

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Notes

1. Definitions of terms are provided in Appendix C.
2. For a list of the carriers participating in the O&D Survey, see Appendix A.
3. See definition of “Revenue Passenger” in the Glossary in Appendix C.