Highlights
In March, 4.6 million passengers were recorded passing through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports, a modest increase (+1.5%) over March 2024, but 1.7% below the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level from March 2019.
Transborder traffic continues to weaken
In March 2025, transborder traffic (to the United States) was 1.3 million, 3.7% lower than in March 2024 and the second consecutive month to record a year-over-year decrease. Moreover, transborder passenger counts lagged the pre-pandemic level recorded in March 2019 significantly, coming in 9.9% lower in March 2025.
There were 1.9 million passengers screened for domestic flights in March, up 5.0% year over year, as all of Canada's eight largest airports posted increases. However, domestic traffic in March 2025 was 3.0% lower than in March 2019.
The number of passengers screened for international travel (outside the United States) in March 2025 was 1.4 million, 1.8% higher than the same month in 2024 and 8.9% above the level posted in March 2019.
Chart 1: Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, monthly, 2020 to 2025
Description - Chart 1
Data table: Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, monthly, 2020 to 2025
Source: Table 23-10-0312-01.
Traffic up at most airports
In March 2025, seven of Canada's eight largest airports posted higher volumes of passenger traffic year over year. Only Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International (-2.0%) posted a decline in passenger traffic compared with March of the previous year.
In terms of a post-pandemic recovery, four of these major airports exceeded their March 2019 pre-pandemic volumes of screened passenger traffic in March 2025: Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International (+7.4%), Vancouver International (+1.6%), Calgary International (+1.1%), and Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International (+0.8%).
Chart 2: Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada by sector, March, 2019 to 2025
Description - Chart 2
Data table: Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada by sector, March, 2019 to 2025
Source: Table 23-10-0312-01.
Focus on Canada and the United States
In March 2025, transborder passengers accounted for 27.6% of the total number of screened passengers, down slightly from the 29.1% recorded in March 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, which combined represent more than 90% of all transborder traffic.
For the second straight month, in March 2025 all four airports recorded year-over-year decreases in screened passenger counts for flights to the United States: Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (-2.9%), Vancouver International (-7.3%), Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International (-7.5%) and Calgary International (-2.7%).
Note that screened passengers include both Canadian and non-Canadian residents.
For preliminary numbers of arrivals to Canada from the United States by air and automobile, see the Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada, March 2025.
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.
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.
Reference
Data table: 23-10-0312-01.
- Note: some data tables may best be viewed on desktop.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5404.
Previous release: Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports, February 2025.
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).