Pearson’s Night Flight “Restriction” Formula
Pearson’s “Night Flight Restriction Program” relies on a night flight budget that grows with passenger demand and allows carry-forward, borrowing, and broad exemptions, meaning many night flights do not count against the budget. The system is not tied to scientific evidence or health-based sleep protections. As a result, night flights expand with traffic while the health system, insurers, employers, and residents absorb the resulting costs, which are externalized by the GTAA.
Why a Health-Protection Claim Masks a Growth Mechanism
Toronto Pearson Airport, operated by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), publicly states that night operations are “restricted” to protect community health. This assertion relies on Pearson’s Night Flight Restriction Program.
In its own materials, the GTAA describes the core of this system as a “night flight budget.”
A close reading of GTAA program documents shows that this night flight budget does not limit night flights based on health. Instead, it is a demand-driven accounting formula designed to expand in step with airport growth.
What is presented as protection is, in practice, a mechanism that permits night flights to increase indefinitely.
The “Night Flight Budget”: Growth Built In
Pearson’s Night Flight Restriction Program is built around a seasonal night flight budget (summer / winter), measured in “night movements.”
Crucially:
- The night flight budget scales with passenger demand;
- As traffic increases, the allowable number of night flights automatically increases;
- There is no upper ceiling tied to health, sleep disruption, or noise exposure.
This means the system does not restrict growth — it formalizes it.
A restriction that expands when demand rises is not a restriction at all.
Carry-Forward and Borrowing: Inflating the Budget
The GTAA’s night flight budget allows airlines to:
- Carry forward unused night movements from previous seasons; and
- Borrow against future night flight budgets.
These accounting provisions inflate the number of night flights permitted in any given period, well beyond the headline budget figure.
The published “limit” is therefore not a fixed limit, but a rolling, expandable night flight budget.
Automatic Exemptions: Flights That Don’t Count
Large categories of night flights are excluded from the night flight budget entirely, including:
- Arrivals scheduled before the cut-off but landing late;
- Weather-related delays;
- Air traffic control delays;
- Security-related delays;
- Medical emergencies; and
- Certain cargo and maintenance flights.
Although residents bear the noise impacts, exempt night flights are excluded from the night flight budget and therefore never count against it.
Ad Hoc Overrides and Federal Discretion
Transport Canada has confirmed — in public materials and parliamentary responses — that:
- The night flight budget is the governing framework;
- Exemptions and adjustments are permitted; and
- Additional approvals can be granted outside the budget.
This creates a system where even the flexible night flight budget can be bypassed, with no health-based trigger and no transparent threshold.
No Health Basis — At All
Nowhere in the Night Flight Restriction Program is the night flight budget tied to:
- Sleep disturbance thresholds;
- Cardiovascular risk;
- Cognitive impacts;
- Pediatric health outcomes;
- Nighttime noise exposure limits; or
- Scientific evidence and consensus.
The program is not calibrated to health protection. It is not tied to sleep-disturbance thresholds, nighttime noise exposure limits, or any transparent scientific evidence standard. It also sits uneasily alongside public-health sleep guidance (e.g., Health Canada materials emphasizing adequate sleep duration and quality) and federal safety frameworks that treat 8 consecutive hours off-duty as a minimum baseline for fatigue management in regulated driving contexts.
The program ignores World Health Organization night-noise guidance (Lnight, 23:00–07:00) and decades of peer-reviewed evidence linking nighttime aircraft noise to serious health harm.
The formula is calibrated to airport demand, not human wellbeing.
Why Communities Call It “Functionally Unlimited”
Independent researchers, Toronto media, and community organizations — including the Markland Wood Homeowners Association and the Toronto Aviation Noise Group — have repeatedly shown that:
- The night flight “cap” rises with traffic;
- Large numbers of flights are exempt from the budget;
- Borrowing and carry-forward erase scarcity; and
- The lived experience bears no resemblance to a restriction.
A system that expands with growth, excludes thousands of flights, and allows discretionary overrides is functionally unlimited, even if it carries the label “restricted.”
The Foundational Flaw
A night-flight policy built on demand growth rather than health protection is structurally unsound.
It guarantees that nighttime aircraft noise will expand in parallel with airport traffic — regardless of the harm imposed on surrounding communities.
The foundation is wrong.
A public-health measure must protect people first, not accommodate growth and explain the impacts later.
Reform Recommendations
To restore credibility and protect health:
- Replace the demand-based night flight budget with a hard cap derived from health and environmental science;
- Adopt a true health-based curfew (23:00–07:00), with tightly limited MEDEVAC exceptions;
- Eliminate carry-forward and borrowing provisions;
- Count all post-curfew flights, including delayed arrivals, against the cap; and
- Require independent audits and full public reporting of night flight activity and exemptions.
Bottom Line
Pearson’s Night Flight Restriction Program is not a health safeguard.
It is a night flight budget — an accounting system that normalizes and expands
night flights while preserving the appearance of control.
Calling this “protection” is misleading.
Calling it a restriction is inaccurate.
Communities deserve honesty — and a policy built on health, not growth.
Primary Source Documents (GTAA & Transport Canada)
The following official documents from the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) and Transport Canada establish and describe Pearson’s night flight “budget,” including how it is managed and allowed to grow.
Establishes the night flight budget for restricted hours and GTAA’s obligation to manage it.
Explains how the night flight budget operates and is monitored year to year.
Documents the passenger-growth formula underlying the night flight budget.
GTAA’s own public use of the term “night flight budget” and explanation of the system.
Federal context confirming that Transport Canada authorizes and oversees night flight limits at Pearson.
Note on Access to Information Requests
See our Access to Information Requests and Oversight page for the status of related federal records.
Pearson Accountability Alliance
Independent Environmental & Public Health Research for Toronto Pearson Communities.