Nav Canada air traffic delays dropped by 85% from May through August at major airports as the Canadian air navigation service provider implemented a new operational readiness plan for the summer. The proportion of scheduled flights impacted dropped from 1.54% in 2025 to 0.24% this year at Toronto Pearson (CYYZ), Montréal-Trudeau (CYUL), Calgary (CYYC), and Vancouver (CYVR) airports, it said.
Vancouver marked the largest improvement in “absolute gain,” where the share of scheduled flights facing service delays dipped from 4.42% in 2025 to 0.64% this year. Calgary, meanwhile, had the largest proportional improvement, from 1.16% to 0.05%. These improvements occurred while traffic increased collectively by 0.9% at the four airports, to 394,919 flights, between May 1 and August 31, versus 391,245 a year earlier. In addition, Nav Canada faced World Cup traffic during the period.
“In May, we said our team was ready. In July, the results showed they were. Today we can say they upheld that standard through the most demanding stretch of the year,” said Nav Canada v-p and chief of operations Marie-Pier Berman.
Improvements came as Nav Canada air traffic services staffing was higher than at any point since before the pandemic. The air navigation service provider offered targeted summer scheduling and incentive measures. Staff working in non-operational positions temporarily returned to frontline duties, and Nav Canada rehired more than 50 retired controllers. In addition, the organization invested in technology improvements.
“A season like this one is not a finish line,” Berman said. “The staffing rebuild continues, the fall and winter bring their own demands, and readiness has never meant promising that no disruption will ever occur. It means having the people, processes, and technology to manage whatever comes, safely and transparently.”
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