Toronto – A nationwide technical outage affecting border inspection kiosks has caused significant delays at major Canadian airports, disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers. The glitch, which struck during peak travel hours, left travelers stuck in long queues as airport authorities scrambled to manage the situation manually.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) confirmed the outage late Tuesday, saying that kiosks used for electronic customs and immigration processing had gone offline at multiple international airports, including Toronto Pearson, Vancouver, and Montreal-Trudeau. The issue affected both Canadian citizens and international arrivals, forcing border officers to revert to slower, paper-based procedures.
Passengers described chaotic scenes in arrival halls, with lines stretching across terminals and wait times exceeding two hours in some locations. “It was complete gridlock. People were standing shoulder to shoulder, and families with kids were visibly exhausted,” said Maria Santos, a traveler who arrived at Pearson from London.
CBSA officials said the outage was caused by a technical malfunction in the central processing system. Teams were dispatched to restore services, and contingency measures were put in place to prioritize vulnerable passengers and connecting flights. “We are working as quickly as possible to resolve the issue and minimize disruption,” the agency said in a statement.
Airlines issued advisories urging passengers to be patient and allow extra time for arrivals and customs clearance. Some connecting flights were delayed to accommodate travelers stuck in the inspection lines, though a few missed their onward journeys due to extended processing times.
Airport authorities have emphasized that there is no indication the outage was caused by a cyberattack. “This appears to be a systems failure, not a security breach,” one CBSA spokesperson clarified, aiming to calm concerns among travelers.
By late evening, partial functionality was restored at several airports, though delays persisted as backlogs cleared. Officials warned that it could take hours before operations fully return to normal.
The incident has raised fresh concerns about the reliability of Canada’s automated border processing infrastructure, which has become critical in managing high passenger volumes. Travel experts say this disruption highlights the need for stronger backup systems to prevent similar nationwide outages in the future.
For many travelers, the unexpected delays served as a reminder of how quickly modern airport operations can unravel when technology fails.