Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports, November 2024
Released: 2025-01-09
4.4 million
November 2024
6.5% 
(12-month change)
Highlights
In November, 4.4 million passengers passed through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports, 6.5% higher than in November 2023 and 7.3% above the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level in November 2019.
Domestic traffic rebounding
In November 2024, domestic screened passenger traffic was 9.0% higher than in November 2023, with all airports posting increases. This marked the end of eight consecutive months of year-over-year decreases in the total domestic passenger counts.
This swift change in course for domestic traffic coincided with a series of high-profile concerts in Toronto. Moreover, total domestic traffic volumes in November 2024 exceeded the pre-pandemic level from November 2019 by 6.1%.
The number of passengers screened for international flights (outside the United States) in November 2024 increased 6.4% over the same month in 2023 and was 17.2% above that of November 2019.
In November 2024, transborder (to the United States) traffic grew 2.9% over the same month in 2023 and was marginally higher (+0.3%) than in November 2019.
Chart 1
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, monthly, 2019 to 2024
Traffic growth sustained at all airports
In November 2024, all of Canada's eight largest airports experienced higher year-over-year total screened passenger volumes.
Indeed, the rebound in domestic passenger traffic in November helped the four smallest top airports post double-digit increases over November 2023: Winnipeg/James Armstrong Richardson International (+17.2%), Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International (+15.7%), Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International (+14.6%), and Edmonton International (+13.7%).
Chart 2
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada by sector, November, 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 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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