It was a pretty rough year for Toronto-Pearson International Airport in terms of negative press coverage, even landing the shameful distinction of being deemed the worst international airport in the world for delays in the disaster year for air travel that was 2022.

But it looks like all of the bad hype had little effect on the airport's coffers, as The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) that oversees Pearson is boasting some impressive profits for the third quarter of 2022.

The GTAA released its three- and nine-month figures on Thursday evening, showing a massive spike in passenger activity and revenue.

The report states that traffic increased "by 6.5 million or 135.1 per cent to 11.2 million and by 18.9 million or 273.7 per cent to 25.7 million during the third quarter of 2022 and the first nine months of 2022, respectively, when compared to the same periods of 2021," citing the easing of pandemic-related travel restrictions and pent-up travel demand.

All of this traffic translated into big bucks for Canada's largest travel hub, which raked in revenues of $421.9 million in Q3 2022 and $1.088 billion in the past nine months. This marks the second consecutive quarter that Toronto Pearson generated net income.

It's an especially impressive statistic when measured against the last full quarter before travel restrictions were imposed worldwide. Back in the third quarter of 2019, the GTAA reported comparable total revenues of $403.1 million and $1.1 billion.

"Over the course of the summer, Toronto Pearson went from one of the world's most shut down major airports to one of its busiest," said Deborah Flint, President and CEO, GTAA.

Flint also acknowledges the obvious, saying that "The delays and wait times experienced by passengers this summer have decreased dramatically, and we have seen better flow through the airport thanks to increased staffing by carriers and our partners in government, and a host of innovations aimed at smoothing processes."

"I want passengers to know how much we value and appreciate their patience and loyalty. I commend our government and airline partners for the actions that have strengthened their operations and started to add more resiliency," said Flint, adding that "airport employees and partners have been working relentlessly on passengers' behalf to improve their experience at Toronto Pearson."

Flint points out that "Airline delays and cancellations have improved and we've made significant progress by giving passengers more tools like launching our live dashboard, which allows passengers to check wait times for check-in counters, security screening, and customs and baggage."

And in her defence, it's been a hot minute since we saw floods of complaints over typical Pearson headaches like long lines, security staff shortages, missed flights, lost luggage, separated pets, hot, sweaty planes, and all the other nonsense travellers were forced to endure this year.