Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports, February 2024
Released: 2024-03-22
4.2 million
February 2024
11.2% 
(12-month change)
Highlights
In February, 4.2 million passengers passed through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports, an increase of 11.2% from February 2023.
Screened passenger traffic in February 2024 was just below (0.4% lower) the number posted in February 2020, marking the third consecutive month in which passenger volumes did not reach levels observed before the COVID-19 pandemic.
International traffic soars
In February 2024, there were 1.3 million passengers screened for international flights, up 18.9% over the same month in 2023. Because 2024 is a leap year, February 2024 had 29 days, while February 2023 had 28 days. Nevertheless, international traffic volumes were 11.2% higher than the level reported in February 2020, also a leap year, marking the fifth straight month in which international passengers exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Transborder traffic to the United States continued to be resilient on a year-over-year basis in February 2024, up 15.2%. However, passenger screenings continued to lag pre-pandemic levels, 4.5% below that of February 2020.
Domestic screened traffic increased in February, posting a 3.1% gain over the same month in 2023. The 1.7 million domestic passenger screenings in February 2024 were 5.6% below the level in February 2020, as passenger volumes continued to lag pre-pandemic levels.
Chart 1
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, monthly, 2019 to 2024
Growth widespread across airports
In February 2024, higher volumes of screened passenger traffic were widespread, with six of the eight airports up by more than 10.0% year over year.
However, only Vancouver International (+8.0%) and Calgary International (+5.8%) surpassed screened passenger volumes from February 2020, before the pandemic.
At Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International, a run of 10 consecutive months starting in April 2023 that saw screened passengers exceed pre-pandemic levels was broken in February 2024, with screened traffic slightly below (-0.7%) that in February 2020.
Chart 2
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, by sector, February, 2019 to 2024
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Note to readers
Data for this release are derived from the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) Boarding Pass Security System and include screened traffic at pre-board security screening checkpoints at the eight largest airports in Canada.
The eight largest airports in Canada include Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International, Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International, Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International, Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International, Winnipeg/James Armstrong Richardson International, Calgary International, Edmonton International and Vancouver International.
Screened passenger traffic includes air travellers required to go through pre-board security screening and excludes aircrew and airport employees. This data series is a different measure of traffic than the counts of enplaned or deplaned passengers published in Statistics Canada's annual Airport activity report or produced by the individual airports. For example, the screened passenger data will not account for passengers with connecting flights who did not pass through security. For more information, please refer to the "Related information" tab (Definitions, data sources and methods) for this release.
Users interested in accessing daily counts of screened traffic at Canada's major airports can obtain them from the CATSA website.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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