Data study
Toronto Pearson ranked Canada's worst airport on Google reviews as Gander comes top
Toronto Pearson is the worst-rated airport in Canada, according to Google reviews, ahead of the Thanksgiving long weekend in October 2026. Pearson averages 3.76 stars from 48,591 reviews, and Montréal-Trudeau is second-worst at 3.78.
Data collected
Source: SEO Backlinks, https://seobacklinks.com/
Key findings
At the other end, Gander International Airport in Newfoundland and Labrador is the best-rated in the country at 4.50 stars, ahead of Toronto's other airport, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (4.44), and Deer Lake Regional Airport, also in Newfoundland and Labrador (4.41).
The average airport in the ranking scores 4.17. Prince George International Airport in British Columbia is third-worst at 3.80, followed by Yellowknife Airport (3.95) and the Northwest Regional Airport in Terrace, British Columbia (4.03). Grande Prairie, Abbotsford, Kelowna, Calgary and Fort McMurray complete the bottom 10, and British Columbia and Alberta have seven of the 10 worst between them.
Reviews at the bottom of the list complain about lineups, construction and prices. "Pickup an arrival at T1 was a nightmare," one Pearson traveller wrote in early October 2026, while a Montréal-Trudeau reviewer advised: "Give yourself about 3 1/2 hours from landing to exit." In Calgary, one wrote: "The worst airport in Canada. It used to be amazing."
Small airports dominate the top of the list. Comox Valley Airport is fourth best, Saint John Airport fifth and Halifax Stanfield sixth. Vancouver International Airport is the only one of the country's three busiest airports in the top 10, in eighth place, and Winnipeg and Québec City complete the list. "I liked Billy Bishop Airport. It’s less congested and smaller than Pearson so you get out of there faster," one recent Toronto traveller wrote, and a Gander visitor praised its "Very poignant Sept 11th display," marking the town's role in taking in thousands of stranded passengers in 2001.
Chart
Worst and best 10 at a glance
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Method
How we did it
We used the DataForSEO Business Listings database to pull the Google Maps listings for airports across Canada on October 5, 2026, in three searches: one by Google's airport categories, one for listings named as international airports and one for listings with Airport in their name and an airport category. Together they returned 190 different listings.
We kept the 35 airports with scheduled passenger flights and at least 300 Google reviews, 156,552 reviews in all. Airport hotels, car rental desks, lounges, parking lots, the cargo-only Montréal-Mirabel airport, Montréal Saint-Hubert (where scheduled passenger service could not be confirmed), private aerodromes, closed airfields and small airfields without scheduled flights were left out, as were airports with fewer than 300 reviews.
Each airport was ranked by its exact average rating, worked out from its count of one, two, three, four and five-star reviews rather than the rounded score Google displays, so airports that show the same rating on Google are still put in order. Where two airports have exactly the same average, the one with the larger share of one-star reviews ranks lower.
Most provinces have only a few airports in the ranking, so there is no province average. The best and worst rated airport in each province with at least two ranked airports is listed below.
National rankings
The worst and best 10 in Canada
The 10 worst-rated airports in Canada
| Rank | Airport | Average | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto Pearson International AirportToronto, Ontario48,591 reviews | 3.76 | 48,591 |
| 2 | Montréal-Trudeau International AirportMontreal, Quebec22,188 reviews | 3.78 | 22,188 |
| 3 | Prince George International AirportPrince George, British Columbia517 reviews | 3.80 | 517 |
| 4 | Yellowknife AirportYellowknife, Northwest Territories594 reviews | 3.95 | 594 |
| 5 | Northwest Regional Airport Terrace-KitimatTerrace, British Columbia371 reviews | 4.03 | 371 |
| 6 | Grande Prairie AirportGrande Prairie, Alberta345 reviews | 4.04 | 345 |
| 7 | Abbotsford International AirportAbbotsford, British Columbia1,961 reviews | 4.05 | 1,961 |
| 8 | Kelowna International AirportKelowna, British Columbia1,972 reviews | 4.08 | 1,972 |
| 9 | Calgary International AirportCalgary, Alberta14,559 reviews | 4.08 | 14,559 |
| 10 | Fort McMurray International AirportFort McMurray, Alberta383 reviews | 4.08 | 383 |
The 10 best-rated airports in Canada
| Rank | Airport | Average | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gander International AirportGander, Newfoundland and Labrador316 reviews | 4.50 | 316 |
| 2 | Billy Bishop Toronto City AirportToronto, Ontario3,005 reviews | 4.44 | 3,005 |
| 3 | Deer Lake Regional AirportDeer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador383 reviews | 4.41 | 383 |
| 4 | Comox Valley AirportComox, British Columbia489 reviews | 4.35 | 489 |
| 5 | Saint John AirportSaint John, New Brunswick413 reviews | 4.34 | 413 |
| 6 | Halifax Stanfield International AirportHalifax, Nova Scotia4,398 reviews | 4.33 | 4,398 |
| 7 | Nanaimo AirportNanaimo, British Columbia549 reviews | 4.31 | 549 |
| 8 | Vancouver International AirportVancouver, British Columbia23,513 reviews | 4.29 | 23,513 |
| 9 | Winnipeg Richardson International AirportWinnipeg, Manitoba3,430 reviews | 4.28 | 3,430 |
| 10 | Québec City Jean Lesage International AirportQuebec City, Quebec2,435 reviews | 4.28 | 2,435 |
Averages are rounded to two decimal places. Where two airports show the same figure, the order comes from the unrounded average.
Province by province
The best and worst rated airport in each province
The highest and lowest scoring airport in the seven provinces with at least two ranked airports. Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Yukon and the Northwest Territories have one ranked airport each: Winnipeg (4.28), Halifax Stanfield (4.33), Charlottetown (4.10), Whitehorse (4.19) and Yellowknife (3.95).
| Province | Best rated | Worst rated |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta4 airports ranked | Edmonton International AirportEdmonton, 7,060 reviews 4.15 | Grande Prairie AirportGrande Prairie, 345 reviews 4.04 |
| British Columbia9 airports ranked | Comox Valley AirportComox, 489 reviews 4.35 | Prince George International AirportPrince George, 517 reviews 3.80 |
| New Brunswick3 airports ranked | Saint John AirportSaint John, 413 reviews 4.34 | Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International AirportMoncton, 698 reviews 4.10 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador3 airports ranked | Gander International AirportGander, 316 reviews 4.50 | St. John's International AirportSt. John's, 1,501 reviews 4.26 |
| Ontario7 airports ranked | Billy Bishop Toronto City AirportToronto, 3,005 reviews 4.44 | Toronto Pearson International AirportToronto, 48,591 reviews 3.76 |
| Quebec2 airports ranked | Québec City Jean Lesage International AirportQuebec City, 2,435 reviews 4.28 | Montréal-Trudeau International AirportMontreal, 22,188 reviews 3.78 |
| Saskatchewan2 airports ranked | Regina International AirportRegina, 1,498 reviews 4.15 | Saskatoon International AirportSaskatoon, 1,538 reviews 4.15 |
Scores are the exact average of every star rating on the airport's Google listing, rounded to two decimal places.
Using this research
Citing these figures
You're welcome to quote or republish any figure on this page. Please credit SEO Backlinks and link to this page so readers can see the full method and rankings.
How to cite
SEO Backlinks, "The best and worst airports in Canada", data collected October 5, 2026: https://seobacklinks.com/
This study comes from SEO Backlinks, which runs data-led digital PR campaigns built on public data like Google reviews.