JAY GOLDBERG: Toronto Pearson airport continues to underperform

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Delays. Cancelled flights. Bad service. Travellers who spend a lot of time going in and out of Toronto Pearson airport are used to all three.   

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering whether Pearson airport is one of the worst airports among some of the world’s biggest, the Consumer Choice Center has a new study out that should whet your appetite.   

It tells a story that many of us could have easily guessed based on personal experience. Among high-passenger volume airports, Pearson airport ranks near the bottom of the list in terms of overall performance.  

The study looks at a whole host of factors in ranking airport performance, including proximity to the city centre, rideshare availability, variety of airlines available, easy connections, average delays and total shops and restaurants, among others. Bonus points were handed out for short security wait times and airports that do not feature nighttime curfews or flight quotas.  

On virtually every metric, Pearson performed poorly. It’s far from the city centre. It’s famous for delays. There are severe restrictions on nighttime flights. Security takes forever. And while rideshare services are available, they’re a trek to access.   

The name Toronto Pearson airport might as well be a misnomer. The airport is in Mississauga, a city with its own mayor, municipal government and transit infrastructure. It takes someone from downtown Toronto about 40 minutes by car to get to Pearson — and that’s on a good day. The best airports in the index are close to the city centre, so they’re easily accessible and convenient for passengers.   

Where else does Pearson really drop the ball? The Toronto Pearson Night Flight Restriction Program caps the number of flights between 12:30 a.m. and 6:29 a.m. The program pre-books about 80% of the flights during that window, so if a flight ends up getting delayed and bumps passed the 12:30 a.m. mark, there’s a chance it’ll have to wait until 6:30 a.m. or later before being able to depart. With the kind of weather we get in Canada, delays are inevitable. Pearson’s nighttime travel restrictions often turn bad situations into far worse.  

Then there’s the issue of airline competition. Air Canada dominates the flights coming out of Pearson, with no less than 52% of all flights flown by that single airline. Because of that, ticket fares are particularly expensive heading out of Pearson, as a lack of real competition allows Air Canada to jack up prices on many of its routes.   

Pearson only has 52 airlines that fly out of it, which is quite a low number for world-class airports. For example, Germany’s Dusseldorf Airport has 20 more airlines that fly out of it than Pearson, despite having less than half of the air traffic. That’s a clear indictment of real competition.  

What airports rank the best? Tokyo’s Haneda Airport comes in first place, followed by Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Haneda Airport got the study’s best large airport points ranking at 170, 33.5 points ahead of Pearson.   

How can Pearson improve? Removing, or at least changing, nighttime flight restrictions could help significantly alleviate delays. Improved airline competition, with Air Canada’s share of flights shrinking, could also improve Pearson’s score in future years.   

When it comes to improving airline competition, a lot of the story is a domestic one. Canada has laws in place that prevent foreign airlines from carrying out domestic flights. An American airline, for example, can fly from Tampa to Pearson, but it cannot fly from Pearson to Calgary. Such antiquated laws protect Air Canada’s dominance and lead to higher prices for consumers.   

Pearson likes to see itself as a world-class airport. But, for Pearson to truly achieve that status, its officials and Canadian policymakers need to up their game. While Pearson will always lose points for things like a lack of proximity to the city centre, there are clear things that can be done to see Pearson improve, including changing night restrictions, allowing foreign airlines to fly domestically, increasing capacity to improve consumer experiences at security and more.    

Canadians deserve a world-class airport. As of now, we don’t have one.