(OTTAWA) Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says the federal agency that provides security at Canadian airports is ramping up staff, but he says labor shortages aren’t the main culprit. unacceptable delays that passengers are experiencing this spring.
Posted at 12:43 p.m.
Several airports are reporting extremely long queues at security and border checkpoints. Travelers claim they are forced to wait in line at the airport for hours – and sometimes even miss their flight.
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority said last week that labor issues at the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority were partly responsible for long lines at Pearson International Airport.
But Minister Alghabra maintains that the federal agency has regained 90% of its pre-pandemic workforce, while flight volumes are still below 70%. According to the Minister, the lack of staff cannot therefore be the main cause of the queues.
The minister argues instead that travelers have lost their touch a little, after two years of the pandemic, and that some are causing delays at security checkpoints.
Mr Alghabra also claims that changes in flight schedules have caused a certain congestion of planes departing and arriving at around the same time, which causes major bottlenecks at certain times of the day at airports. .