Screened passenger traffic at Canadian airports, May 2026
Released: 2026-06-26
4.9 million
May 2026
3.3% 
(12-month change)
Highlights
In May, 4.9 million passengers passed through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports, up 3.3% from May 2025.
Domestic traffic up while transborder remains down
The number of passengers screened for domestic flights in May 2026 grew 6.4% from the same month in 2025 to reach 2.5 million. In May 2026, seven of Canada's eight largest airports posted increases in domestic traffic, with Edmonton International (-0.3%) being the lone exception.
In May 2026, international traffic (outside the United States) was up 2.6% year over year to 1.3 million, reversing the small year-over-year decline experienced in April 2026. This occurred amid continued air travel uncertainty stemming from the conflict in Iran and elevated prices for jet fuel.
Conversely, transborder traffic (to the United States) declined 2.1% from May 2025 to 1.1 million screened passengers in May 2026, marking the 16th consecutive month of year-over-year decreases.
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, May, 2024 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 trade tensions between Canada and the United States. In May 2026, transborder (to the United States) screened passenger traffic was well below (-10.2%) the same month in 2024, prior to such tensions.
Transborder screened passenger traffic accounted for 22.4% of the total number of screened passengers in May 2026, down from 23.6% in May 2025 and 26.2% in May 2024.
Transborder traffic is concentrated at the four largest Canadian airports, which account for more than 90% of all such traffic. In May 2026, Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International posted a 1.7% year-over-year increase in screened passenger traffic to the United States—the first such increase after 16 consecutive months of decline—but still 9.6% below the level recorded in May 2024. Meanwhile, Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International (-1.2%), Vancouver International (-2.3%), and Calgary International (-6.5%) posted year-over-year decreases in transborder traffic in May 2026.
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, May 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.
Chart 4
Number of screened transborder (to the United States) passengers, May, 2024 to 2026
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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