Once again, we’ve pulled the data and ranked the airports to help you in the quest to get the best flights deals. Our annual Airport Affordability Index demonstrates that airfares can vary greatly based on location. As always, we counsel you to do your homework as deals can pop up anywhere. However, these rankings serve as a handy baseline for savvy travellers planning their next departure or destination.
The index is based on the searches on our site for the month of August, 2012. We ranked the 20 most searched Canadian and US border airports, averaging airfares based on flight prices that our users found to the most popular destinations, including Montreal, Miami, Los Angeles, London, Bangkok and Cancun.
| Number | Airport | 2012 Ave. Airfare | 2011 Rank |
| 1 | Bellingham International, WA (BLI) | C$285 | 1 |
| 2 | Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, MI (DTW) | C$380 | 2 |
| 3 | Buffalo Niagara International, NY (BUF) | C$403 | 7 |
| 4 | Moncton (YQM) | C$459 | 10 |
| 5 | Quebec (YQB) | C$469 | 5 |
| 6 | Saskatoon (YXE) | C$471 | 17 |
| 7 | Regina (YQR) | C$485 | 6 |
| 8 | Kelowna (YLW) | C$493 | 4 |
| 9 | Burlington International, VT (BTV) | C$497 | 3 |
| 10 | Victoria International (YYJ) | C$524 | 9 |
| 11 | Winnipeg International (YWG) | C$533 | 13 |
| 12 | Edmonton International (YEG) | C$559 | 12 |
| 13 | Macdonald-Cartier International (YOW) | C$569 | 11 |
| 14 | Halifax International (YHZ) | C$602 | 8 |
| 15 | Calgary International (YYC) | C$621 | 14 |
| 16 | Montréal – Pierre Elliott Trudeau (YUL) | C$648 | 15 |
| 17 | Hamilton (YHM) | C$664 | N/A |
| 18 | St John’s (YYT) | C$664 | 20 |
| 19 | Vancouver International (YVR) | C$680 | 16 |
| 20 | Lester B. Pearson International (YYZ) | C$698 | 18 |
For more information:
To see how other US airports stack up, check out the Airport Affordability Index from our sister site Cheapflights.com, which ranks the 101 most popular US airports by the average airfare to key destinations.
Featured image: Robert Couse-Baker
