Canadians traveling abroad are finding some wonderful surprises when they set foot in certain international airports: clearing security and customs is fast and fuss-free.
Arriving at London Heathrow, Canadians and citizens from dozens of other countries don’t need to stand in line to talk to an agent for passport control. Instead, the traveller scans their passport at an eGate, a machine that uses facial recognition to match the passport’s electronic chip and confirm the person’s identity. The traveller walks through in seconds.
At Dubai International Airport, which has built itself into one of the world’s biggest travelling hubs, visitors who share their information in advance can land and walk through a “smart tunnel,” which verifies their identity through facial and iris recognition. There’s no need to get out a passport or even stop walking.
A passenger walks through the 'red carpet' corridor, which verifies passenger identity through facial recognition, at Dubai International Airport.Amr Alfiky/Reuters
People leaving Dubai can use its new “red carpet” corridor, where pre-screened travellers are identified through facial recognition in seconds without showing a passport or boarding pass.
Several decades ago, Canada was considered ahead of the game when it came to facilitation – the efficient yet safe management of the flow of passengers, baggage and cargo through airports. However, Canada has fallen behind.
There have been improvements in security screening and border clearance in recent years, but Canada’s airports lag behind many facilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia, which have made big efforts to modernize technology and streamline processes. These new technologies speed up the queues, and often are more secure.
The impact of the efficient processing of travellers goes beyond just shaving off a few minutes from the weary traveller’s journey. Creating a fast and customer-friendly experience for travellers could give Canada an edge in the competition to build airports into global transportation hubs.
Dubai, Singapore and Istanbul have seized the opportunity, aggressively upgrading their airports into high-volume transit points. However, Canada’s outdated technology and regulations are holding it back from seizing an opportunity to create hubs for travellers going between Asia, South America and Europe. A European traveller, for example, could transfer through Toronto or Montreal on the way to Mexico City or Santiago – routes that might appeal to people seeking to avoid Donald Trump’s America.
The opportunity to build Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal into global crossroads is massive, but it requires vision. These cities can be more than just regional hubs – they can be world-class centres, meeting places for top business travellers and dealmakers from around the world.
Canadian businesses are having to come to grips with the massive disruption from an increasingly protectionist United States. Building our airports into serious hubs would be a big step forward in the reorientation of our economy to be more outward facing and globally competitive, rather than just relying on selling our products and services to the giant next door.
Travellers crowd the security queue at Toronto Pearson International Airport. There have been improvements in security screening and border clearance in recent years, but Canada’s airports lag behind many facilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia.COLE BURSTON/Reuters
A co-ordinated effort from the federal government and its agencies to modernize airport technology and regulations – and to reform our airline sector to boost competition – would have benefits beyond the aviation sector.
Putting Canadian airports on the map would help tourism and provide a much-needed boost to international trade. More flights would make it easier for business travellers to land here, and would improve the ability to ship goods in and out of the country affordably: 30 per cent of the value of cargo currently coming into Canada that isn’t from the U.S. arrives in planes, much of it inside passenger aircraft.
A fuzzy screen
In Canada, pre-board screening is a dog’s breakfast. In the U.S., the Transportation Security Administration is both the regulator and operator of security screening, and it closely monitors the time it takes to process travellers. However, in this country, Transport Canada makes the regulations, and CATSA delivers the service. They in turn contract out screening to private companies in each region, such as GardaWorld.
This results in inconsistency as screeners interpret or sometimes misinterpret CATSA rules. Travellers get mixed instructions on if they should keep their iPads in their bag, or if they can use a store-bought Ziploc for liquids.
At London Gatwick and some other international airports, the security lines have entirely switched to using computed tomography (CT) scanners, the same type of technology used in medical scans, to screen baggage. This means travellers no longer need to go through the dreaded process of removing electronics or liquids from their bags, which speeds up screening. Some airports in Europe now allow passengers to bring in up to two litres of liquids in hand luggage.
CT scanners produce more accurate 3D images, making it easier to detect explosives and other threats, so there’s less need to review items and do manual searches. While some Canadian airports now have CT scanners, the bulk of the screening is done with post-9/11 technology: scanners with fuzzy, two-dimensional images and high false-alarm rates. According to CATSA’s 2025 annual report, just 21 out of 300 pre-board screening lines have CT units.
Vancouver Airport's domestic security checkpoint was renovated and reopened last September, and now uses CATSA computed tomography (CT) X-ray equipment.Vancouver Airport Authority
Just like the rule requiring passengers to remove their shoes for screening, which Transport Canada thankfully dropped in July following its elimination in the U.S., Canada is following rather than leading.
In recent years, the CBSA, which is in charge of border screening, has made more use of passenger information sent in advance to vet travellers heading to Canada while they are still in the air, and they are experimenting with artificial intelligence to hone in on high-risk travellers. However, more can be done.
When Canadians land at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, for example, they can fill out their customs declaration on a kiosk. (These kiosks have experienced a string of outages this fall – a sign of the outdated technology underpinning the current system.) Then the traveller hands the kiosk receipt to a CBSA officer, who takes a quick glance to see if the person matches their passport photo and waves them through.
While the process is an improvement over the previous one-on-one interviews, it could be streamlined and made more accurate by replacing the officer with an eGate with facial recognition for the bulk of travellers determined to be low-risk based on data sent in advance. Making the entry process simpler for citizens of key trading partners, such as providing eGate access to British citizens the same way they do for Canadians, could help us develop closer trade ties.
In the U.S., 16 states have digital ID, meaning residents can get a digital version of their driver’s licence in their Google or Apple Wallet. They can use their phone or Apple Watch to cruise through TSA checkpoints at domestic airports. The U.S. also has an expedited process for people who upload their information to a mobile passport app, where they can check in an entire family from one device.
The Canadian Airports Council has called on the government to implement regulatory changes to enable digital ID and biometrics in air travel. While biometrics such as facial recognition are being used by Air Canada in the boarding process, the Canadian Airports Council is calling for a biometrics policy across all federal departments and agencies, and the amendment of federal acts and statutes to enable more widespread use.
Passport control in Terminal 2 of London's Heathrow Airport. Making the entry process simpler for citizens of key trading partners, such as providing eGate access to British citizens the same way they do for Canadians, could help us develop closer trade ties.DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images
Of course, these technologies raise serious privacy issues. Any greenlighting should ensure the data is used only for the purpose designed, it isn’t permanently stored, and travellers can opt out without being penalized. This technology needs to be handled carefully, but with airports around the world moving to facial recognition – the same technology people use to unlock their iPhones – stalling isn’t an option.
Shaving a few seconds or minutes off passenger journeys adds up, allowing airports to accommodate more travellers each day. This brings big benefits when you consider the large volumes using Canadian airports – 26 million people, for example, passed through Vancouver’s YVR last year.
An overdue industry overhaul
Though Canada is well positioned geographically to serve as a gateway between Europe, the Americas and Asia, its 'user pay' model makes travel more expensive than other jurisdictions.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
A unified government strategy is key to speeding up airport modernization. But in order for Canadian airports to reach their potential, an overhaul of the aviation industry is also needed.
While Canada is well positioned geographically to serve as a gateway between Europe, the Americas and Asia, it is weighed down by its “user pay” model, which makes travel more expensive than other jurisdictions. Canadians pay some of the highest air security charges in the world.
The Air Travellers Security Charge, which is added to the price of an airplane ticket, is currently $34.42 for international departures from Canada. The same fee in the U.S. is $7.84 Canadian (US$5.60). The fact that these fees in Canada flow into the federal government’s general revenue has raised suspicions that it is being used as a cash cow. Many in the industry would prefer to see the money directly going directly to improve screening through investments in technology and staffing.
In addition, passengers are dinged with high airport improvement fees, which are added into ticket prices. Departing passengers at Pearson pay $37 plus tax for the airport improvement fee; the fee will rise to $40 in January. (Connecting passengers pay $8.) Many of these fees rose sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Airlines have hefty bills for fees too. They pay fuel taxes, fees to Nav Canada for air traffic control, and various fees to airports, which contribute to the high cost of flying but aren’t broken down in ticket prices. As shown in the graphic below, these fees add up to almost 30 per cent of an airplane ticket price. These fees discourage Canadians, as well as foreigners, from flying in Canada.
One of the biggest reasons Canadian airports charge such high fees to airlines, in turn, is because they pay high rents to the federal government. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the largest federally owned airports were transferred to airport authorities. Yet while global competitors generally have no rent, the federal government charged Canadian airports a hefty $487-million in 2023. The rents are calculated as a percentage of gross revenue, meaning the airports pay more as they grow. The federal budget said the government would examine airport rent formulas. Instead of tinkering, Ottawa should drop the rents entirely.
The budget also muses about privatizing airports. (Technically they are already private, but are controlled by not-for-profit corporations.) Developing Canadian airports into serious global hubs would be more likely under true private ownership, creating an incentive to grow and to keep costs down. It would also be more accountable than the current model, where the leadership is selected by boards of trade and various levels of government.
The government is trying to encourage pension funds to invest in airports, which could help. When it comes to Canadian airlines, further loosening foreign ownership rules to eliminate the current 49 per cent limit for a single investor, as suggested in a recent Competition Bureau report, could attract investors and drive down prices. Relaxing rules around cabotage – allowing foreign airlines to fly between two Canadian cities – would further boost competition.
The potential impacts of turning Canadian airports into global hubs would be transformative. Industries such as warehousing, logistics and manufacturing, which often develop around transportation hubs, would thrive. Shipping costs would drop, boosting exports and reducing import prices.
Canada faces huge economic challenges across virtually every sector as it seeks to reduce dependency on the U.S. Airports can and should be a key part of that reorientation – quite literally, opening up Canada to the world.
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