Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports, January 2024
Released: 2024-03-01
4.3 million
January 2024
10.2% 
(12-month change)
Highlights
In January, 4.3 million passengers passed through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports, an increase of 10.2% from January 2023.
However, January 2024 traffic was 2.6% below the volume in January 2020, pre-COVID-19 pandemic. This was the second straight month in which traffic was below pre-pandemic levels, after having surpassed them for five consecutive months from July to November 2023.
International traffic remains strong
In January 2024, other international traffic (outside the United States) was up 17.0% year over year. The number of passengers screened for these international flights, at 1.4 million, was 4.7% higher than the level reported in January 2020, marking the fourth consecutive month in which international traffic exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Transborder traffic to the United States was also strong on a year-over-year basis in January 2024, up 14.1%. However, the transborder passenger screening numbers remained below pre-pandemic levels.
Domestic screened traffic rebounded in January, posting a 2.8% gain over the same month in 2023. Domestic screenings in January 2024 were 6.1% below the January 2020 level, as passenger volumes failed to exceed pre-pandemic levels for a third straight month.
Chart 1
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, monthly, 2019 to 2024
Airports continue to see strong year-over-year growth
In January 2024, Canada's eight largest airports all experienced higher volumes of screened passenger traffic from the same month in 2023, with six of the eight airports up by more than 9.0% year over year. While increases at Edmonton International (+3.3%) and Halifax Stanfield International (+2.5%) were more modest, both airports bounced back from the year-over-year dip experienced in December 2023.
In January 2024, three of Canada's eight largest airports surpassed their pre-pandemic screened passenger volumes from January 2020: Calgary International (+4.0%), Montréal-Trudeau International (+2.8%) and Halifax Stanfield International (+2.1%). Notably, this marked the 10th consecutive month in which volumes at Montréal-Trudeau exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Chart 2
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, by sector, January, 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/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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