The head of Canada’s busiest airport tried to gather staff on Thursday amid ongoing disruptions and delays, but warned that they could meet more angry customers if problems continue at Pearson International Airport.
Deborah Flint, chief executive of the Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA), called on hundreds of airport and airline employees to “please stay excited” while “continuing to meet the challenges.”
For every passenger many of you see who may express their disappointment to you, or perhaps do so on social media, there is another group of more passengers who have nothing but gratitude for everything you and your colleagues do, ”Flint said to applause at the staff event.
Her speech, which was heard from a public area of the airport, followed two months of problems at Toronto airport, where many passengers face flight delays, cancellations and hours of security difficulties.
The GTAA, which operates the airport, and the airlines blame the lack of security personnel, current federal restrictions on COVID-19 and restrictions on aircraft traffic.
A man walks past a screen showing information about flights to Pearson on Thursday. (Esteban Eduardo Cuevas Gonzalez / CBC)
“There’s an expectation that we can just turn the wheel and get things back the way they were before the pandemic,” Flint said.
But “the journey today is simply not the same as before.”
Her remarks came three days after former NHL player Ryan Whitney crystallized the frustration of many passengers, targeting Twitter on both Pearson (“worst place on earth”) and Air Canada after his flight to Boston was canceled.
I live at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The worst place on earth. it smells so bad to me. pic.twitter.com/PfdnHcO7Ad
– @ ryanwhitney6
GTAA Chief Operating Officer Craig Bradbrook told CBC News that it was “heartbreaking” to read passengers’ misses of missed flights for their vacations and family gatherings.
“We don’t want to run the airport that way; “It’s not the level of service we strive to provide as an airport,” he said.
“A lot of effort has been put in recent weeks and we are seeing improvements and waiting times are declining. There is still a lot of work to be done, obviously, but we are moving in the right direction.”
“Fast” and “calm”
International passengers arriving in Pearson on Thursday told CBC News it took only a few minutes to pass through customs and pack.
Minu Salvan, who is traveling from New York for a wedding, described her arrival as “very calm”.
“I’ve been to worse airports, so you’re good at it,” she said.
But others who followed the advice of airport officials to arrive extra for their flights faced other problems.
A woman checks her phone after arriving in Pearson on Thursday. The Canadian Border Agency has urged passengers to complete their ArriveCAN form before flying to Canada to avoid further delays. (Esteban Eduardo Cuevas Gonzalez / CBC)
Nathan Starbuck arrived at the airport late Thursday morning, four hours before his flight to Edmonton. “They recommended three, but my job was around the corner and I thought it would be good to wait here,” he said.
He then found that the baggage check-in would not open for another 40 minutes – so he had to wait a little longer to get through the guards.
A man received a COVID-19 test at the airport on February 1, 2021. About 2,000 passengers were randomly selected for mandatory tests at Pearson each day. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
Dina Sowers was randomly selected for a mandatory COVID test after flying in from Miami with her husband and father-in-law to visit Niagara Falls.
The process was “very smooth”, but added an undesirable delay to their journey, Sowers said. “I just want to get to the car and go, but I understand the safety behind it.”
About 2,000 passengers are randomly selected each day from about 35,000 Pearson arrivals. The GTAA and airlines have called on the federal government to end random tests earlier this year.
“This continues to be a great challenge,” Bradbrook said, adding that after months of discussions with the federal government, “steps are being taken” to move testing out of the airport to reduce congestion.
Other passengers expressed confusion about testing requirements for COVID-19 before departure, and some said they found the ArriveCAN application a challenge to use.
“We’re senior citizens, so we’re not technicians … It’s a little impossible,” said Craig Metcalfe, who was traveling with his wife from Williamsburg, Virginia.
People register at Pearson on May 12. Toronto Airport Authorities have repeatedly called on the federal government to increase airport security staff and remove pandemic travel measures that it says are causing delays. (Nathan Dennett / Canadian Press)
The airlines are also calling on the federal government to remove additional pandemic restrictions, including lifting vaccine mandates for aviation employees, a move they say would help increase the aviation workforce to speed up airport handling.
“We remain extremely concerned about the state of the services provided by government agencies at our air borders and security checkpoints,” WestJet said in a statement, calling Pearson’s problems “unacceptable.”
The federal government announced last month that it has accelerated training for 400 new security officers who will start working at airports by the end of June, as well as adding more pavilions for border services in Pearson.
In a statement Thursday, a spokesman for the Canadian Border Service said airport handling times were worsened by multiple flights arriving at the same time and by passengers who did not complete their ArriveCAN forms before arriving at the arrivals hall.
“The CBSA will not compromise the health and safety of Canadians in the name of waiting time at the border.”
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