MONTREAL—Canadians risk flight delays and even longer airport security lines unless Ottawa boosts screening funding to address growing passenger levels, industry experts are warning.
“It is on the cusp of being a real problem, with serious, serious delays,” says John Gibson, chairman of the Canadian Airports Council.
Canadian airports aren’t currently facing the chronic disruptions that are increasingly angering U.S. passengers. Still, lines have steadily grown over the last few years as Canadian funding hasn’t kept pace with the 21 percent increase in passenger growth over the last five years.
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) says, on average, it screens 85 percent of passengers within 15 minutes.
But waits can be much longer at some large airports during peak travel times, with additional pressure potentially coming during the rush of summer travel—and the number of passengers is growing by 3.5 percent each year.
If nothing is done to address the bigger volumes, Gibson said, passenger waits could regularly reach an hour.
The number of security screeners has in the past fluctuated depending on the size of government funding. More than 6,000 agents screened 58 million passengers last year.
The agency says it’s doing the best it can with the resources it’s provided by the government. An extra $29 million in the Liberal government’s first budget will help to maintain the current threshold this year.
“Based on the long-term funding that we have right now, if we don’t get additional funding then yes, [lines will be longer],” said spokesman Mathieu Larocque.
Passenger complaints associated with longer wait times have been growing, CATSA said in its 2015 annual report.
Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, the country’s largest, said it is also hearing from passengers.
“As we see passenger growth across the country, most airports are seeing more passengers and that puts a greater demand on the system,” said spokeswoman Erin Kennedy.
Large global airports like London Heathrow and Hong Kong are required to process 95 percent of passengers within five minutes.
From The Canadian Press
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