Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports, March 2024
Released: 2024-04-29
4.5 million
March 2024
6.2% 
(12-month change)
Highlights
In March, 4.5 million passengers passed through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports, an increase of 6.2% from March 2023.
While the rate of growth for screened passenger traffic was strong in March 2024, it was a deceleration from the double-digit year-over-year growth reported in the first two months of 2024.
Screened passenger traffic in March was 3.1% lower than in March 2019, marking the fourth consecutive month in which screened passenger volumes failed to reach pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.
Dip in domestic traffic
In March, 1.8 million passengers were screened for domestic flights, down 4.8% from the same month in 2023. Moreover, domestic passenger screenings in March 2024 were 7.6% below those recorded in March 2019, as passenger volumes continued to lag pre-pandemic levels.
Conversely, passenger screening counts for flights out of the country remained strong; international screened passenger volumes posted a 17.3% gain over March 2023 and were 7.0% above the level reported in March 2019, marking the sixth straight month in which this segment exceeded the pre-pandemic level.
Transborder traffic to the United States was also robust in March 2024, up 12.3% over March of last year. However, passenger screenings for flights to the United States continued to lag pre-pandemic levels, down 6.4% from the March 2019 level.
Chart 1
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, monthly, 2019 to 2024
Sustained passenger traffic growth at airports
In March, seven of Canada's eight largest airports posted higher volumes of passenger traffic year over year. Only Edmonton International (-4.5%) posted a decrease in passenger traffic compared with March of last year.
Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International was the only airport to post a double-digit increase in March, with counts of screened passengers up 11.5% over the same month in 2023.
Finally, only Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International (+2.8%) and Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International (+1.2%) posted higher screened passenger volumes than their pre-pandemic levels from March 2019.
Chart 2
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, by sector, March, 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 are 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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