Despite perhaps some anecdotal evidence to the contrary (continuing stories from frustrated friends and acquaintances), Toronto Pearson says it continues to make progress on passenger flow woes and now ranks a mere 21st globally for departure delays, compared to first/worst at the height of industry restart (based on statistics by FlightAware).
Citing the introduction of innovative programs and pilot initiatives aimed at improving the passenger experience, Pearson says it is continuing to see improvements across several key performance metrics, a trend it expects to continue or accelerate into the fall.
Among them:
• The most recent data from the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) for the week of Oct. 10-17 indicates that 89% of passengers cleared security in less than 15 minutes, representing a 7-percentage-point increase over the average shared at the airport’s last update on Aug. 5.
• For the week of Oct. 17-23, 63% of all flights were on time, versus 44% from the last update. Moreover, just 1% of flights were cancelled during the same time in October.
• Airlines manage baggage delivery, but Pearson has made it an ongoing focus for collaborative improvement. The average wait time for all bags arriving at the carousel from Oct. 17-23 was 22 minutes, compared to 26 minutes for the first week of August. International baggage wait times improved by an average of 4 minutes versus the August update, and domestic and transborder baggage wait times improved by an average of 2 minutes each.
“These passenger flow improvements at Pearson are being augmented by new technologies, including the launch of YYZ Express which allows passengers to pre-book a spot in line for security screening,” says Deborah Flint, President and CEO, Greater Toronto Airports Authority. “Moreover, later this year, CATSA will pilot a trusted traveller initiative designed to make the security screening experience more convenient.”
New programs
Since Aug. 5 Pearson has put the following programs and pilots into place designed to improve passenger flow at the airport.
In late September, the airport launched a new live wait-time dashboard that provides passengers with up-to-the-minute wait time information so they can better plan their journeys. The new dashboard contains live security screening, customs, check-in counter and baggage wait times.
• YYZ Express is an online reservation program to speed through security screening queues at the airport.
• Pearson created purpose-built student visa processing areas in Terminals 1 and 3 ahead of September’s return to school to move international students more quickly through the airport and reduce congestion for all international arriving travellers.
• Later this year, CATSA will pilot a trusted traveller initiative designed to make the security screening experience more convenient for passengers.
Pearson says while it remains committed to working with government and industry partners to deliver a seamless experience for travellers, it is also calling for the federal government to support changes to long-term systemic issues, including reopening NEXUS enrollment centres and clearing the backlog of almost 500,000+ applications; taking steps to create a more seamless, digital border; moving international student and visa processing offsite; putting a full trusted traveller program in place for summer 2023; and working with the US government to return US Customs and Border Protection capacity to pre-pandemic levels.