The number of plane delays at Toronto Pearson Airport has increased 275 times
What is the Canadian government doing to remedy the situation?
During the pandemic, major Canadian airports were already experiencing problems with the speed of passenger screening. At that time, the elimination of the separation of travelers into two streams: vaccinated and unvaccinated helped.
A week ago, on May 21, the police were called to Toronto Pearson Airport at least four times. This is not the first day people have waited hours at a time for customs inspection. That weekend, when Ontario was hit by hurricane, many flights were cancelled, and airport officials could not even give outraged passengers a chance to collect their luggage and leave in peace, let alone free meals and hotel rooms.
On May 27, Toronto Pearson Airport opened 25 additional check-in desks. The Canadian Air Transport Safety Board is urgently training 400 additional screening officers to work at airports across the country, and is looking to hire new ones. Also, eGates, automated border control systems, can be used to get through border formalities more quickly.
Changes have been made to the ArriveCan app, where travellers must enter their information. If you're arriving at Toronto and Vancouver international airports, you can now file immigration and customs declarations through the mobile app 72 hours before your flight to Canada.
Travelers who fail to report their vaccination or quarantine plan through the ArriveCan app can be fined $5,000 CAD. These people are considered unvaccinated, even if they have a certificate of vaccination, and must be tested on the day of arrival and the eighth day thereafter, as well as spend two weeks in quarantine.
