Nearly 44 million travellers made Pearson Airport in Mississauga, Ontario the busiest in Canada

Pearson Airport in Mississauga is often referred to as Canada’s busiest airport, and once again the numbers back it up.

Statistics Canada’s latest annual report on airport activity across the country, released earlier this month, showed passenger traffic at Pearson increased by 24.8 per cent from 2022 to 2023.

Some 43.7 million travellers used Pearson last year compared to 35 million in 2022, the numbers show.

StatsCan noted in the report that “as the world was eager to reconnect using air travel, (Pearson) continued to maintain its position as Canada’s busiest airport.”

Growth in passenger traffic at Pearson “was strong for all sectors, with domestic traffic increasing 15.2 per cent, transborder traffic increasing 30.6 per cent and international traffic increasing 31.6 per cent,” the report added.

Vancouver International Airport also experienced strong growth (30.3 per cent increase in passengers), according to the annual figures, placing second in passenger traffic in Canada.

It saw 24.3 million travellers pass through its gates in 2023 compared to 18.6 million in 2022.

Canada’s third-busiest airport in 2023 was Montréal/Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport (20.4 million travellers compared to 15.5 million in 2022) while Calgary International Airport (18 million travellers, up 28.2 per cent from 2022) placed fourth on the list.

According to StatsCan, Canada’s four busiest airports last year accounted for 70.6 per cent of all passenger traffic across the country, including 54.7 per cent of all domestic traffic.

More broadly, StatsCan observed, air passenger traffic in Canada in 2023 “soared to nearly 93 per cent of the 2019 pre-COVID-19 pandemic level” as total number of passengers at Canadian airports grew year-over-year to 150.7 million.

“Passenger confidence was strengthened in 2023, the first full year without any pandemic-related government travel restrictions in place,” the aviation report pointed out. “An easing of pandemic-induced labour and supply challenges along with the industry’s ability to deliver more consistent levels of service contributed to the growing demand for travel.”

Authors of the report added that “while demand for air travel was strong in 2023 and continued to propel the Canadian airline industry towards recovery of its 2019 passenger traffic volume, it stopped short of reaching a full return to pre-pandemic levels.”

Moving forward, the report stated there is hope “that passenger traffic could make a full recovery” to pre-pandemic levels as data at Canada’s eight largest airports shows passenger counts continue to rise during the first half of 2024.

Back in May, Pearson brass noted similar trends showing people are returning to air travel.

Deborah Flint, president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which runs Pearson, said at the time numbers from the first three months of 2024 pointed to a positive outlook.

She characterized January through March of 2024 as a period that “was one of strong passenger growth, enabled by” a continued resiliency shown in the air travel sector.

“Our financial performance continues to strengthen, along with improved customer experience and operational performance, as evidenced by a six per cent increase in on-time performance (departures) compared to the same period of 2023,” she added.