Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports, February 2025
Released: 2025-03-31
4.2 million
February 2025
0.4% 
(12-month change)
Highlights
In February, 4.2 million passengers were recorded passing through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports, a slight increase (+0.4%) over February 2024 and close to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level from February 2020.
For comparisons with previous years, note that February 2025 had 28 days, while there were 29 days in February 2020 and 2024 (both were leap years).
Transborder traffic down
In February 2025, transborder (to the United States) traffic was 2.0% lower than in February 2024, marking the first month to record a year-over-year decrease since the start of the pandemic. February 2025 was also the second consecutive month in which transborder passenger counts lagged pre-pandemic levels, falling 6.4% in the month below the level recorded in February 2020.
International (outside the United States) screened passenger counts in February 2025 were similar to those posted in February 2024. However, international traffic was 11.2% higher than in February 2020, prior to the pandemic.
For domestic flights, screened passenger counts in February 2025 were 2.5% higher than the same month in 2024 albeit 3.3% lower than in February 2020.
Chart 1
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, monthly, 2020 to 2025
Uneven growth at the airports
Higher year-over-year volumes of screened passenger traffic were posted at six of the eight largest airports in Canada in February 2025. The largest percentage increases were at Winnipeg/James Armstrong Richardson International (+8.6%), Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International (+5.1%) and Edmonton International (+4.1%).
The airports that notably exceeded their February 2020 pre-pandemic volumes of screened passenger traffic in February 2025 were Vancouver International (+9.7%) and Calgary International (+6.4%).
Chart 2
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada by sector, February, 2019 to 2025
Focus on Canada and the United States
Passengers screened for transborder (to the United States) flights at the eight largest Canadian airports represented 26.1% of the total screened passengers in 2023 and 27.4% of that in 2024.
Transborder traffic is typically concentrated at the four largest Canadian airports: Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International, Vancouver International, Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International and Calgary International. While these four airports account for about 83% of all screened passenger traffic in Canada each year, they represent more than 90% of all transborder traffic.
In February 2025, all four of the largest airports recorded year-over-year decreases in screened passenger counts for flights to the United States: Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (-2.5%), Vancouver International (-4.7%), Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International (-5.6%) and Calgary International (-3.7%).
Note that screened passengers include both Canadian and non-Canadian residents.
Statistics Canada will continue to monitor changes in screened passenger airline traffic between Canada and the United States.
For more data and insights on areas touched by the socio-economic relationship between Canada and the United States, see the Focus on Canada and the United States webpage.
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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 represents 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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