Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto is the most expensive airport in North America --- and second most expensive in the world, behind one in Tokyo -- to land a plane in. Airport operators typically charge airlines a landing fee to cover the costs of putting a plane down on the tarmac. But at Pearson, the cost for a average-sized jet (an Airbus 300) is more than $3,300 (U.S.) and that's nearly double what it costs to land at the second most expensive airport in North America, New York's LaGuardia. Atlanta, the busiest airport in North American, charges less than $150 for the same service that Pearson charges more than $3,300 for.

Last week, my Globe and Mail colleague Brent Jang reported that Pearson's operator - the not-for-profit agency known as the Greater Toronto Airport Authority -- had floated the idea of bumping those landing fees by a further 18 per cent. As one source on the story told me, if Pearson went ahead with that increase -- and it appears from Brent's article that they are backing away -- that would have meant that landing fees would have doubled at Pearson since 2002.

Of course, even though airlines pay these fees, it's passengers who are ultimately dinged for them in higher ticket prices. And since Toronto is Canada's busiest airport -- 50 25 million passengers a year -- and acts as a hub for much of the country's domestic and international traffic, that means that costs of air travel in Canada are higher than many other jurisdictions.

And while Toronto was tops, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton all placed near the top end when it comes to landing fees.

This data -- a selected chunk of which is reproduced in the table below -- was compiled by a University of British Columbia researcher, working for a group called the Air Transport Research Society.

I used some of that data in a CTV National News piece I did on Pearson's plans to open a new $2-billion airport east of Toronto in Pickering, Ont. In the following table, all dollar figures are in U.S. currency.

 BOEING 747-400
(524 seats) 		AIRBUS 300
(266 seats) 		CRJ200-LR


(50 seats)

Toronto

$7,965
3,311
483
New York - LaGuardia
4,506
1,874
2,73
New York - JFK
3,063
1,273
186
Cleveland
2,818
1,171
171
Newark NJ
2,450
1,019
148

Denver

2,441
1,015
148
Seattle
2,188
910
133
Vancouver
2,084
866
74
Calgary
1,974
821
77
Boston
1,934
804
117
Washington, D.C.
1,864
775
113
Edmonton
1,818
756
93
San Francisco
1,733
720
105
Philadelphia
1,654
688
100
Los Angeles
1,488
618
90
St. Louis
1,470
611
89
Miami
1,348
560
82
Phoenix
691
287
42
Atlanta
350
146
21