Canada’s airports saw record improvements in delays, NAV Canada says

Source: Global News Politics
Date: 2026-09-28 15:26:44.0
Tags: [National, British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, Transportation, Infrastructure, Governance]

NAV Canada reported that the number of scheduled flights impacted by delays across Canada's four major airports—Toronto Pearson, Montréal-Trudeau, Calgary, and Vancouver International Airports—fell by 85 per cent from May 1 to Aug. 31, 2026, compared to the same period in 2025. Specifically, delayed flights dropped from 4,996 (1.54 per cent) in 2025 to 769 (0.24 per cent) in 2026, while total flight volume across the four hubs increased by 0.9 per cent to handle 394,919 flights. Vancouver recorded the sharpest improvement with delays dropping from 4.42 per cent to 0.64 per cent, Toronto Pearson had the lowest share of delayed flights at 0.04 per cent, Calgary dropped to 0.05 per cent, and Montréal-Trudeau dropped to 0.28 per cent. Additionally, NAV Canada noted that national air traffic controller staffing shortages narrowed from a deficit of 200 staff in the spring to 170 by August. Concurrently, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the federal government is moving ahead with plans to attract private investment in Canada's four largest airports under a model where the federal government retains ownership of underlying land and assets.