OTTAWA — The government is taking action on reducing wait times at Canadian airports.
The Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, and the Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, issued this statement recently, providing Canadians with an update on actions the government is taking to reduce wait times at Canadian airports.
In a lengthy statement shared with Canadians the Ministers stated that:
"The Government of Canada recognizes the impact that significant wait times at some Canadian airports are having on travellers. It is great news that more and more Canadians are choosing to travel. As travel volume surges, there are reports of delays in many aspects of travel: Canadian customs, United States customs, airport security screening, luggage handling, airline services, taxis and limos, among many other areas. We are also witnessing similar phenomena at other airports around the world. Having said that, we are taking action to quickly address delays while continuing to maintain adequate security screening. We are working with airports, air carriers and other airport partners to find solutions to reduce delays in airports in advance of the summer peak season. The goal of this collaboration is to ensure efficient services for inbound and outbound passengers, so Canadians are able to travel smoothly and safely as the sector recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Their announcement outlined specific action being taken in response to these airport delays. These initiatives include:
- Transport Canada (TC) quickly convened government agencies and industry including the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), creating an outbound screening committee to address bottlenecks occurring at pre-board security screening and pre-clearance departure checkpoints and to develop new approaches to dealing with these pressure points in the travel system.
- CATSA has been working with its contractors to increase the number of screening officers at passenger screening checkpoints. Currently, there are approximately 400 additional screening officers in different phases of their training across the country who will be deployed between now and the end of June.
- With TC's support, these recruits will benefit from progressing more quickly through a more flexible onboarding process so they can be on the ground as quickly as possible. Airports are working to support CATSA with this initiative.
- CATSA is very close to having recruited 100 per cent of their target numbers of screening officers for the summer in many airports, including Toronto Pearson International Airport and Vancouver International Airport.
- CATSA has accelerated the use of pre-certified screening officers to carry out non-screening functions, to optimize resources, and to allow certified screening officers to focus their efforts on key security functions.
- Airports, airlines, and other partners are communicating with CATSA daily to help them adjust scheduling to ensure screeners are available where and when they are needed to support busy travel times as air travel quickly recovers.
- CATSA is currently studying best practices at airports to see where these processes can be applied to other airports to gain efficiencies.
The Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, and the Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, each agree that more still remains to be done, but believe that the initiatives and efforts outlined in their update to Canadians regarding these wait times at airports, will pay off. Their joint statement spoke about how since the beginning of May 2022, the number of passengers waiting 30 minutes or longer, for outbound screening at the Canada’s largest airport, has been cut in half.
"For arriving passengers, the Government of Canada, including TC, PHAC and Public Safety Canada, continues to work with airlines and industry partners to reduce delays, including with planes holding at the gates at Toronto Pearson International Airport.”
The Ministers provided further detail regarding initiatives to improve wait times across the largest Canadian airports. Toronto Pearson International Airport is adding 25 kiosks to speed up processing time. While the CBSA is initiating a Summer Action Plan to guarantee better efficiency, increase available officer capacity and easing the return of Student Border Services Officers.
In addition, their joint statement added that the, “PHAC is working with CBSA and partners to streamline their operations. For example, they will be removing the requirement for Mandatory Random Testing on the International to Domestic Connections Process. Other changes to streamline processing on public health grounds are being developed.”
The Ministers described how all airport agencies are improving communications with travellers so that passengers can better anticipate pre-boarding screening and arrival requirements and ease the passage of travellers in and out of airports. To facilitate quicker passenger pre-boarding screening and arrival procedures, they suggest that passengers use the Advanced CBSA Declaration on the web version of ArriveCAN to make their customs and immigration declaration up to 72 hours in advance of flying into Canada.
The Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, and the Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, assured Canadians that, "The Government of Canada recognizes the urgency of the situation and continues to work with all partners to address wait times as a matter of priority. With additional CATSA screeners and CBSA Border Services Officers in place and coming, and ongoing discussions to further reduce the delays, some progress has been made, but we recognize we need to do more and we will. We will take clear and decisive action to ensure the safety, security and resiliency of Canada's transportation system, its employees, and its users, while supporting economic recovery."
