Airport delays are due to COVID-19 rules, industry group says. Do we still need them?

COVID-19 testing and screening rules can't co-exist with current travel demands, the Canadian Airports Council. Is it time Ottawa makes another change to its border rules?

An industry group is urging Ottawa to scrap some COVID-19 measures at Canadian airports as international travellers continue to be bogged down by lengthy delays.

The Canadian Airports Council is calling on the government to drop random tests and public health questions at customs to ease the serious delays arriving passengers face.

Those measures make it four times longer to process people as they arrive than it did before the pandemic, according to Monette Pasher, interim president of the Canadian Airports Council.

While it was fine when fewer people were travelling, it has become a serious problem now with more traffic at airports, she told The Canadian Press.

But with COVID-19 still circulating globally, is now the right time to drop the protocols, even if it means easing the pain for travellers and airports? Health experts aren’t so sure.

“These are unfortunate requirements that are necessary to keep security within our country, and in this case, we’re talking about security from new viral variants,” said Dr. Craig Jenne, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Calgary.

“They are inconvenient but they are, at this time, still a necessity.”

Airports are not designed for customs to be such a lengthy process, Pasher said, and the space is not available to accommodate too many people. Airports are also no longer the right place for COVID-19 tests since tests are rarely required in the community now due to testing policy changes, she said.