Toronto Pearson airport says passenger experience improved from last summer
Pearson is currently ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction for all North American large hub airports
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Believe it or not, conditions for plane passengers are improving at Toronto Pearson International Airport this summer compared to last.
So says Deborah Flint, the president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which operates Pearson.
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“This summer is, of course, very different than summer 2022 with its slingshot of growth of 180% in a very short period of time,” Flint said on Tuesday morning in front of the arrivals area while providing the media a mid-summer performance update. “On average, (91%) of passengers are clearing security checkpoint lines in 15 minutes, there are a considerable number of passengers that are clearing customs and entering the country in seven minutes.”
Flint says the improved passenger experience can be attributed to hiring 10,000 new staff (the airport is nearing its previously high total of 50,000 employees) and digital innovations like contactless check-in and pre-booking a time slot in security screening lines.
“We are no. 1 in North American large hub airports in a survey of overall customer satisfaction (this last second quarter),” Flint said.
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The average wait time for all bags arriving at the carousel from July 3-9 was 20 minutes, she said, compared to 26 minutes last year and during the week of July 10-16 and baggage service availability at Terminals 1 and 3 was 99.3 and 98.7%, respectively.
“This is concerted effort, concerted investments s that have been made to ensure there is reliability in our facilities,” Flint said.
More importantly, over 70% of the planes are arriving on time this summer compared to 35% last summer and Pearson currently ranks 17th in the on-time performance global ranking published by Flight Aware, she said.
From July 3-9, there was just one flight where passengers were held on the aircraft for nine minutes compared to last summer when the same week last year saw 34 flights with an average hold time of 10 minutes due to overcrowding in the customs hall, Flint said.
Still, Flint says this summer has seen “more weather events than usual in North America, especially on the Eastern seaboard,” and there’s efforts to be more prepared to notify passengers earlier of disruptions and re-direct travel especially given the July long weekend saw 1,000 cancelled flights and the next one is coming up soon in early August.
“Going into the next holiday weekend we’re here to make travel more consistent and reliable for all the passengers,” Flint said. “Use those tools were have on our website to plan your travel.”
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