Air Canada Cancelled Nearly 10 Percent of Flights at Toronto Pearson in First Week of June

People wait in line to check in at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on May 12, 2022. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Air Canada cancelled roughly 10 percent of flights at the Toronto Pearson International Airport in the first week of June due to increased passenger inflows, staff shortages, and security delays caused by COVID-19 restrictions.

Air Canada’s more than 350 flight cancellations from June 1 to June 7 were split between arrivals and departures, The Globe and Mail reported based on aviation data from Cirium.

The data shows that at least one other Canadian airline had similar flight cancellations over the past week, but not to the level of Air Canada. WestJet Airlines cancelled roughly 3 percent, or about 16, of its arrival flights at Pearson, and cancelled 10 departure flights.

As of 5 p.m. on June 10, Toronto Pearson’s flight statistics show that close to 6 percent of the total 493 departure flights at the airport were cancelled, as were almost 7 percent of the total 503 arrivals.

These numbers come as the aviation industry called on the federal government to lift the remaining COVID-19 restrictions to facilitate security checks at customs at major Canadian airports, including those in Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver.

On June 6, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority screened more than 131,000 passengers in the eight largest airports in the country, in comparison to roughly 162,000 on the same day in 2019, and 17,000 in 2021, the Globe reported.

In a June 9 statement, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which operates the Pearson International Airport, praised the government’s commitment to dispatch more Canadian Air Transport Security Authority and Canada Border Services Agency officers to help reduce delays at the country’s hub airports.

However, GTAA noted that the government needs to do more, particularly in relation to the upgrades of the ArriveCan app that travellers are required to use to report their health and COVID-19 vaccination statuses.

“In a few days, international passenger numbers are set to increase by 50 percent. In anticipation of a new wave of business and family travellers, we urge the government to act immediately to temporarily pause random testing on arrival in airports for an immediate improvement until upgrades to the Government’s ArriveCan app have been made,” the statement said.

Currently, travellers who qualify as fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are exempted from pre-entry tests, though they could be selected for random testings upon entry. Because of the time it takes to select passengers for this random testing, about 2,700 flights, or more than 490,000 international travellers coming into the country, were affected in May 2022, GTAA said.

On June 10, Transport Canada announced that the random testing policy will be suspended until the end of the month.

The Canadian Airports Council (CAC), which had also called on the Liberal government to remove remaining COVID-19 rules to help alleviate stress for airports and aviation employees, praised the move in a Twitter post on June 10.

“Pausing mandatory random testing at airports is a great step forward for travellers and Canada’s tourism industry. We are starting to see signs of progress in all areas of the airport,” said CAC, which represents more than 100 airports across the country.

Another association for the airlines industry, the National Airline Council of Canada, also praised Transport Minister Omar Alghabra’s decision to suspend random testings at airports, but at the same time called for the further elimination of pandemic-related restrictions.

“Canada’s airlines welcome Minister @OmarAlghabra’s decision to suspend and move off-site the mandatory random testing at airports. This is a positive step, rooted in science and evidence, that will improve conditions at Canada’s airports and reduce complexity for travellers,” the group said on Twitter.

“We look forward to further action by the Government to lift remaining pandemic-era travel restrictions that put Canada out of step with other countries around the world.”

The Tourism Industry Association of Canada also said in a Twitter statement that it is “thrilled” to hear the suspension of the random testing policy.

“This will help alleviate the bottleneck we are seeing at our points of entry. We hope that this becomes permanent and barriers continue to be removed for travel in Canada,” the association said.