This summer might go down as the worst in airport delays and congestion for travelers globally. Thousands of travelers experienced chaos at airports around the world, especially at Toronto’s Pearson airport.
COVID-19 restrictions lifted in the spring in Canada, which led to an influx of travel through Pearson airport. In addition to the airport’s congestion, travelers also experienced flight delays and cancellations.
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The second worst airport in the world for delays
According to Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport of Canada, COVID-19 and the aviation industry’s labor shortage are to blame for flight delays. “We are seeing significant improvements over the last two months,” says Alghabra to the House of Commons transport committee.
FlightAware, a flight tracking service, reveals that Toronto’s Pearson airport had the most flight delays in the world for most of summer 2022. The airport has now moved to second place. There have been over 7,000 complaints from travelers to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) about flight delays and disruptions since May.
Why Canada has had a hard time with flight delays
Data from FlightAware shows that from May to July of this year, Pearson airport experienced the highest delays among the 100 busiest airports in the world.
Alghabra says airports and airlines in Canada are experiencing more of a challenge compared to other parts of the world because Canada’s restrictions were more strict during the pandemic.
The good news is that the situation at Pearson airport is improving. According to the latest data from FlightAware, 44.1 percent of flights departing from Pearson were delayed between August 10th and August 17th. London’s Gatwick Airport is now in the number 1 spot, with 45 percent of its flights being delayed.
Alghabra says that the CTA is the responsible party to handle customer complaints. He shares his sentiments that it’s “unacceptable to see travelers sleeping on airport floors” because of flight delays and cancellations.
Airlines only have to pay up to $1,000 if there is a flight delay or cancellation that is at the fault of the airline. Under federal rules, travelers should also be compensated for their accommodation costs due to flight delays.
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