Toronto Pearson just ranked among world's best airports in a surprising category

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Toronto Pearson Airport has officially earned a spot on a new global ranking of the world's most passenger-friendly airports, according to the 2025 World Consumer Airport Index released by the Consumer Choice Center.

In its new edition, the Index builds on the 2024 European edition by adding 20 international entries. For the first time, the ranking is also split into two categories, namely the top 30 busiest airports (serving over 35 million passengers annually) and the top 20 smaller airports (35 million or fewer).

Despite some notable incidents this year, Pearson Airport managed to secure #20 on the list of largest airports, tying with São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport with a score of 136.5 points.

The rankings were based on a broad set of criteria assessing real-world passenger needs, including distance to city centre, availability of ride-hailing services, airline connectivity, terminal and gate layout, average delay times, and security wait times.

The study also intentionally excluded unreliable or inconsistent metrics, such as the number of lounges or customs clearance features, to ensure a fair assessment across airports of all sizes and locations.

Although Pearson Airport made the cut, the Index called out one area of concern, specifically the airport's rigid Night Flight Restriction Program, which limits air traffic between 12:30 a.m. and 6:29 a.m.

"Though seemingly offering some flexibility by increasing with the percentage of passengers each year, the program pre-books 80 per cent of the budgeted hour slots, leaving only 20 per cent of flights to be re-accommodated according to circumstances," the study reads.

The Index also notes that the program "worsened its response to February 2025's storms and crash delays," writing that "while weather is uncontrollable, inflexible planning isn't."

During a winter storm on Feb. 17, Delta Connection Flight 4819, arriving from Minneapolis, experienced a hard landing that fractured a landing gear component, causing the aircraft to overturn.

"Accidents and weather are not within an airport's control; but what is in their control is adopting a rigid night-flight system that makes it harder to adapt to changing circumstances, instead of implementing more general noise abatement measures," the Index notes.

Here are the top 10 largest airports worldwide, according to the Index: