Here's how many travellers flew from Canada to the United States in April

National Post

2 days ago

There were fewer travellers flying from Canada to the United States this April compared to last year, while most of the major Canadian airports exceeded their pre-COVID numbers.
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A new report by Statistics Canada released on Monday revealed more about the recent habits of those flying in and out of Canadian airports in April. It appears that the tension between Canada and the U.S. — amid an ongoing trade war, new travel policies and repeated calls for Canada to become the 51st state — has had a lasting effect.
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In April, two million passengers decided to travel by air within Canada. That number refers to Canadians and non-Canadian residents who passed through pre-board security screening at airport checkpoints. That was a nearly 7.5 per cent increase since last April. It even surpassed the amount of people who travelled domestically in April 2019, before the COVID pandemic.
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Rather than flying to the U.S., 1.4 million passengers sought out international trips this April. That was an increase of seven per cent since the same time last year — and a 19 per cent increase since before the pandemic.
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When it came to taking a trip to the United States, travel south of the Canadian border continued on a downward trend.
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There were 1.1 million passengers who opted to fly to the U.S. in April. That was nearly 6 per cent less than the amount of travellers last year and 'the third consecutive month of year-over-year decreases,' according to Statistics Canada. It was also a 12.5 per cent decrease since April 2019.
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Travel to and from the U.S. is mostly concentrated at Canada's four largest airports in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. When combined, they represent more than 90 per cent of traffic across the border, per Statistics Canada.
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In April, for a third straight month, those airports 'recorded year-over-year decreases in screened passenger counts for flights to the United States.' At Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International airport, there was a drop of 5.3 per cent of such travellers and at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International airport, a drop of 10.1 per cent.
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At Vancouver's international airport, that number fell by 7.6 per cent, and in Calgary, by 1.6 per cent.
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However, there was still a surge of passengers travelling through eight of the largest airports in Canada this April. A total of 4.5 million of them went to airports in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Edmonton. That number was nearly four per cent higher than last year and nearly two per cent higher than in April 2019.