Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports, March 2026
Released: 2026-05-01
4.7 million
March 2026
3.2% 
(12-month change)
Highlights
In March, 4.7 million passengers passed through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports, up 3.2% from March 2025.
Transborder traffic down for 14th consecutive month, domestic traffic up sharply
In March 2026, transborder traffic (to the United States) fell 7.0% from March 2025 to 1.2 million screened passengers, marking the 14th consecutive month of year-over-year decreases.
In contrast, the number of passengers screened for domestic flights in March 2026 was 2.1 million, up sharply (+10.1%) from the same month in 2025. Each of Canada's eight largest airports posted year-over-year gains in March 2026, with Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International (+15.0%), Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (+14.1%), and Calgary International (+11.3%) recording double-digit percentage increases.
International traffic (outside the United States) was 3.1% higher year over year, totalling 1.5 million screened passengers in March.
Chart 1
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, monthly, 2021 to 2026
Chart 2
Number of screened passengers at the eight largest airports in Canada, by sector, March, 2019 to 2026
Chart 3
Year-over-year percentage change in monthly screened passengers, by sector, 2025 to 2026
Focus on Canada and the United States
Beginning in early 2025, a shift in air travel patterns coincided with the political tensions between Canada and the United States. In March 2026, transborder (to the United States) screened passenger traffic was well below (-10.5%) the same month in 2024, before such tensions.
Transborder (to the United States) screened passenger traffic accounted for 24.9% of the total number of screened passengers in March 2026, down from 27.6% in March 2025 and 29.1% in March 2024.
In March 2026, all eight of the largest airports in Canada posted year-over-year declines in transborder traffic, led by the four largest: Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (-3.4%), Vancouver International (-6.6%), Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International (-8.0%) and Calgary International (-10.9%).
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 release "Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada, March 2026."
For more data and insights on areas touched by the socioeconomic 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.
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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