End health measures, Airport Council urges
COVID-19 protocols causing long waits
International arrivals at Canadian airports are so backed up, people are being kept on planes for over an hour after they land because there isn’t physically enough space to hold the lineups of travellers, says the Canadian Airports Council.
The council blames COVID-19 protocols and has called on the federal government to do away with random tests and public health questions at customs to ease the serious delays passengers face when they arrive in Canada.
The extra steps mean it takes four times longer to process people as they arrive than it did before the pandemic, said the council’s interim president Monette Pasher. That was fine when people weren’t travelling, but now it’s become a serious problem.
“We’re seeing that we clearly cannot have these public health requirements and testing at our borders as we get back to regular travel,” she said.
The situation is particularly bad at Toronto Pearson International, where passengers on 120 flights were held in their planes Sunday waiting for their turn to get in line for customs. Sometimes the wait is 20 minutes, other times it’s over an hour, Pasher said.
Airports are simply not designed for customs to be such a lengthy process, she said, and the space is not available to accommodate people.
The government is aware of the frustrating lineups at airports, a statement from the transport minister’s office said.
“Current health measures in place are based on the advice of public health experts to protect Canadians. We will continue to base our measures and adjustments on their expert advice,” the statement read.
The extra steps mean it takes four times longer to process people as they arrive.