Scott MacFadzean is certainly not delighted to see news stories about passengers at Toronto Pearson International Airport suffering from long lines and horrible delays as the summer travel season increases. Hours of long waits for landing, waiting at security gates, crossing customs, and collecting luggage have caused headaches for many who had to travel through Canada’s busiest airport in recent weeks. The problems have led to flight cancellations and sparked a widespread wave of anger. The federal government has promised to fix the issue, which they say is caused by increased travel volume after lifting COVID-19 restrictions.

But as the CEO of London International Airport, MacFadzean points out that travelers can often get from the parking lot to the departure lounge at London Airport in about 15 minutes. MacFadzean said, “We have a joke that someone living near Pearson can actually drive to London, board a plane here before a traveler who went at the same time to Pearson Airport where they would still be stuck at airport security gates.”

MacFadzean said London is not facing the same kind of increase in traveler numbers or staff shortages that caused congestion problems at Pearson. He added that by going through security and checking their bags in London, passengers can avoid delays even if they are connecting through Pearson Airport after starting their journey in London.

But MacFadzean said that staff shortages at Pearson cannot be entirely the airport’s responsibility. He says that COVID-19 travel protocols are also causing unnecessary slowdowns. Passengers are still subjected to COVID-19 testing and proof of vaccination checks, and passengers heading to the United States must also provide proof of a negative COVID test within 24 hours of their flight.

Sisters Suzanne and Catherine Rooney were waiting in the departure lounge at London Airport on Thursday after a two-week trip visiting London from Charlottetown. They went through Pearson at the start of their trip and had to drive to London when a portion of their flight from Toronto to London was canceled. Suzanne Rooney said, “We ended up taking a limousine to get here.”

Their return trip connected through Pearson from London, but they were happy to go through security in London, not Toronto.

Catherine Rooney said, “It’s good that we don’t go through security in Toronto.”

MacFadzean sees the time has come to lift restrictions to return air travel to its normal state again.

He said, “We really encourage the federal government to lift all restrictions and allow passengers to make their own choices and return to traveling comfortably and safely.” “There are a lot of extra steps in the travel process when you have to show your vaccination status, when you have to show proof of a negative antigen test when crossing borders. So there are a lot of extra steps that add harm to the system.”

In 2019, the last full year of travel before the pandemic hit North America, over 600,000 passengers flowed through London Airport.

That dropped to just over 200,000 passengers in 2020. Instead of recovering in 2021, passenger numbers dropped again, this time to just over 100,000 passengers, and MacFadzean expects passenger numbers to increase to about 250,000 this year.

He said, “We should see that as the winter travel season approaches, and 2023 looks much stronger.”

Departing numbers from London have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, but MacFadzean said there are a number of popular destinations including:

Daily flights to Calgary with WestJet.

Four weekly flights to Edmonton with Swoop Airlines.

Three daily flights from WestJet to Toronto Pearson.

Four daily flights to Toronto Pearson with Air Canada.

MacFadzean said another destination will be added next week. He said the winter schedule looks good too with regional destinations including Mexico, Jamaica, Florida, and the Dominican Republic.

He added: “We will continue to add more routes to bring the airport back to pre-pandemic levels.”

MacFadzean said: "While leisure travel numbers are recovering well after COVID-19, business travel is not. Business travelers are essential for travel sector profits because they take more trips and tend to pay higher fares.”

Editing: Dima Abu Khair