After a summer plagued by delays, the Trudeau government says Canadian airports are operating at levels similar to pre-pandemic numbers.
For the week of September 26 to October 2, 2022, 98 percent of flights planned for Canada’s top four airports were completed (i.e., not cancelled); an improvement from 95 percent for the first week of July, officials said in a statement. That’s very close to the week of September 30 to October 6, 2019, when 99 percent of flights for the top four airports were completed.
Ottawa also said that, from September 26 to October 2, 2022, more than 91 percent of flights from the top four Canadian airports left on time, or within one hour of their scheduled departure. That’s a significant improvement from under 75 percent for the first week of July and is approaching the pre-pandemic levels in September 2019 where 95 percent of flights were on time, or within an hour of scheduled departure.
But that still means that roughly one in 12 planes departed more than an hour late, which isn’t much to brag about.
The website FlightAware.com reports that 33% of departing flights at Toronto Pearson were delayed on Friday, October 7. Pearson officials say FlightAware counts a flight as delayed if it leaves more than 15 minutes after the scheduled departure.
The number of arriving international flights being held on the tarmac at Toronto Pearson International Airport has decreased dramatically since May. For the week of September 19-25, 2022, no international flight arrivals were held on the tarmac, as compared to the peak of 373 during the first week of May.
From September 26 to October 2, 2022, 91 percent of passengers at the four largest airports were screened within 15 minutes by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA); an improvement from 79 percent during the first week of July 2022.
* Toronto-Pearson International Airport: 95 percent (98 percent in 2019)
* Vancouver International Airport: 91 percent (94 percent in 2019)
* Montréal-Trudeau International Airport: 87 percent (96 percent in 2019)
* Calgary International Airport: 88 percent (87 percent in 2019)
