Travelling by air is stressful at the best of times. With the rigorous passenger screening that has ramped up over the last decade and the increasing frugality of most airlines, the process of flying can be quite taxing. With a dataset detailing airport activity in September 2012, we set out to identify Canada’s busiest airports and made a range of discoveries.
It will surprise no one that Toronto’s Pearson International Airport is the most active in terms of inbound and outbound flights per month (36,706 in total), with air traffic control moving over 1,000 aircraft every day. Vancouver and Calgary come in second and third (26,666 and 20,251), which is expected given their positioning as a regular stop on international and domestic flights.
This map’s most startling statistic, however, comes out of Chicoutimi, where the local airport’s busiest hour saw two planes taking off every minute.
Municipal airports throughout Canada continue to move a considerable number of bodies with Vancouver Harbour and Toronto’s Billy Bishop airports tallying 5,865 and 10,113 flights respectively. Montréal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport moved 19,452 aircraft and as one heads east, things quiet down considerably. Fredericton International and Halifax’s Robert L. Stanfield International both moved approximately 7,000 flights while Newfoundland’s St. John’s International and Gander International saw half as much traffic.
While knowing how much air traffic is criss-crossing the country might not make your next airport experience any less hectic, perhaps the data on this map will make you give pause the next time an intercom prompt alerts you to ensure your tray tables are stowed and your seats are in the upright position.
