Air Canada & Toronto Pearson got slammed in a new global ranking — and it's BAD bad

Canada just got called out big time in a new global ranking of airlines and airports for 2024, and the results are, frankly, embarrassing.

The ranking, compiled by air passenger rights organization AirHelp, highlights the best and worst in the aviation world, and Canadian airlines and airports definitely didn't land on the nice list this year.

AirHelp looked at factors like on-time performance, customer satisfaction and how well airlines handle claims when things go wrong.

Unfortunately for Canada, our air travel providers lagged far behind global leaders, with some rankings falling just about as low as you can get. In fact, our nation's largest airport and airline — Toronto Pearson and Air Canada — each ranked the worst in the country and scarily close to the bottom of their respective global lists.

Canadian airlines

Out of the 109 total airlines evaluated, here's where Canada's major players landed (scores are out of 10):

1. Air Transat ranked 36th globally with a score of 6.82 — it did alright in customer opinion and on-time performance but struggled in claim processing.
2. WestJet came in at #45 with a 6.59 score. Similar story: decent customer reviews, but claims handling dragged it down.
3. Air Canada? Brace yourself. Our national flag carrier ranked 91st overall — putting it in the bottom 18% globally — with a shockingly low score of 5.13, largely due to its abysmal claim processing rating of 0.6.

For comparison, Brussels Airlines topped the list globally with a score of 8.12, showing strong performance across all metrics. It was followed closely by Qatar Airways (8.11) and United Airlines (8.04)

Canadian airports

Things weren't any better for our airports. Among 239 airports from all over the world, here's how the eight Canadian entries performed:

1. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport: 124th place overall, with a decent score of 7.57.
2. Calgary Airport: 131st, just behind Billy Bishop at 7.54.
3. Vancouver Airport: 177th with a score of 7.30.
4. Ottawa Airport: 181st with 7.28.
5. Edmonton Airport: 195th, scoring 7.23.
6. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport: 215th with 7.04.
7. Halifax Stanfield Airport: 226th, scoring 6.96.
8. Toronto Pearson Airport: 227th, with a low score of 6.95, placing it in the bottom 6% of all airports ranked.

Overall, Canadian airports performed best in customer opinion, with all of them scoring 7.4 or higher in this category and Calgary Airport leading the pack at 8.6. Food and shops were another relative strength, with Calgary Airport also scoring the highest at 8.6.

However, on-time performance was the major weakness across the board. Halifax Stanfield had the lowest on-time performance score at 6.1, and Toronto Pearson wasn't far off at 6.5. Since punctuality accounts for 60% of the total score, it's clear why Canadian airports ranked so poorly overall.

On the flip side, Doha Hamad Airport in Qatar claimed the top spot globally with an impressive score of 8.52, with Cape Town Airport in South Africa (8.50) and Nagoya Chubu Airport in Japan (8.49) on its heels.

What's behind the rankings?

AirHelp's methodology combines hard data with passenger surveys to get a holistic view of an airport or airline's quality. On-time performance is the most heavily weighted factor for airports (60%), while customer opinion and dining/shopping options each account for 20%. For airlines, all three metrics — on-time performance, customer opinion, and claim processing — are equally weighted.

Canada's low scores, particularly for our national airline and largest airport, are a wake-up call that Canadians should expect way better when it comes to air travel.

AI tools may have been used to support the creation or distribution of this content; however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of Narcity's Editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our Editorial Standards page.