Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports, November 2023
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Released: 2024-01-10
4.1 million
November 2023
10.9% 
(12-month change)
Highlights
In November, 4.1 million passengers passed through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports, an increase of 10.9% from November 2022. With November 2023 traffic slightly above (+0.7%) the same month in 2019, this marked the fifth consecutive month in which total passengers exceeded pre-COVID-19 pandemic volumes.
Recovery remains uneven
In November, the recovery of screened passenger volumes at Canada's eight largest airports has been uneven across travel sectors. Domestic screened traffic in grew 2.7% year over year to 1.8 million passengers.
However, while domestic travel was the first to recover from pandemic lows, passenger volumes in November were 2.7% below those in November 2019, ending a stretch of six months when volumes surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
In November 2023, other international traffic (outside the United States) was up sharply year over year (+20.7%). The 1.2 million passengers screened for international flights were 10.1% higher than during the same period in 2019.
Meanwhile, transborder traffic with the United States showed a 15.5% increase from November 2022; however, this sector has yet to reach 2019 levels of passenger traffic.
Chart 1
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, monthly, 2019 to 2023
Most airports see strong year-over-year growth
In November, seven of Canada's eight largest airports experienced year-over-year growth in screened passenger traffic, with six of these airports up more than 9.0%. Edmonton International edged up 1.0%, while Halifax Stanfield International volumes declined 2.0% compared with November 2022.
While Toronto Pearson International, Canada's largest airport, reported 1.5 million screened passengers in November 2023, up 9.2% year over year, it has yet to reach pre-pandemic monthly volumes. However, the gap has continued to narrow, from 10.9% below the 2019 level in January 2023 to 1.2% below the 2019 level in November 2023.
Chart 2
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, by sector, November, 2019 to 2023
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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/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" (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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