Screening Officer Staffing and Training
In an effort to address passenger wait times at certain airports in Canada, CATSA accelerated the hiring and training of over 1,800 screening personnel, between April and August 2022, and an additional 500 screening officers by December 2022. As such, CATSA had sufficient resources for the busy Holiday travel season and the organization was successful in maintaining reasonable screening wait times.
Verified Traveller Program
CATSA conducted phased trials at PBS domestic checkpoints at Vancouver International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport, with modified screening procedures at specific traveller lines. The results of the trials helped inform the policy decisions and the program announcement by the Minister of Transportation in May, 2023, for the creation of a Verified Traveller Program. Modifications to Transport Canada’s regulatory framework will be required. A verified traveller program better positions CATSA to further improve the passenger experience moving forward.
Airport Screening Services Agreements (ASSAs)
As part of CATSA’s preparation for the ASSA request for proposals, the organization established a working group to identify strategic areas of improvement in the development of the new agreements with screening contractors. These areas included a focus on official languages, diversity, equality and inclusion, customer service, as well as incorporating lessons learned from the screening officer staffing efforts in spring and summer 2022.
Indigenous Cultural Awareness
CATSA successfully launched an Indigenous Cultural Awareness Learning Program, which consists of online and in-person learning for screening officer personnel and CATSA employees. The learning program provides screening officers with greater understanding and context when screening Indigenous people and their sacred, spiritual and cultural belongings and instruction on respectful and sensitive security screening practices to follow.
Maintenance Service Provider Contract
CATSA awarded a contract to KPrime to assume the maintenance responsibilities from NAV Canada for most of CATSA’s fleet of screening equipment. The transition between KPrime and NAV Canada has begun. KPrime is expected to assume all maintenance activities by late 2023/24. To ensure a seamless transition, CATSA extended the NAV Canada contract to March 31, 2024 and will continue to work with both companies to transition all maintenance responsibilities at the remaining locations.
Stakeholder Testimonial
Airport AuthorityJessica Lipton
Fort McMurray International Airport (YMM)CATSA supported Fort McMurray Airport Authority staff in launching the Restricted Area Identity Card Enrollment System (RAIC ES) at YMM in 2022. CATSA team members were extremely helpful and available. They were happy to show our team how to navigate the changes in order to use the system as efficiently as possible. The update to the process has enabled our Pass Office to deliver RAIC services promptly and effectively. We are grateful for CATSA’s support on this front.
RAIC Upgrade
By September 2022, 72 new RAIC units were installed across 32 designated airports. The new system has improved airport authorities’ RAIC enrolment times, from an average of 20 minutes to 10 minutes.
Implementation of a Flexible Workplace
In 2022, CATSA adopted a flexible workplace model following a comprehensive review. The implementation of this model encourages a positive and productive working experience, preserving CATSA’s culture by providing flexibility while ensuring operational and business needs are met.
Boarding Pass Security System (BPSS)
In December 2022, CATSA deployed BPSS at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport and the Abbotsford International Airport. CATSA now has more visibility into operational metrics, such as traffic and wait times at these two fast-growing airports.
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence
CATSA continued exploring the use of artificial intelligence to supplement NPS-V screening oversight and to improve the identification of specific objects in X-ray images for analysis purposes. The organization also leveraged machine learning to predict the number of passengers expected hourly at PBS checkpoints at Class 1 airports. The ability to understand anticipated traffic at PBS checkpoints allows CATSA to be better prepared and mitigate occurrences of longer wait times where possible. CATSA also explored the use of artificial intelligence to predict screening equipment outages. Findings will be incorporated in the technical requirements when purchasing new screening equipment.
Ongoing bio-security enhancements
CATSA conducted trials of bin disinfection technology, using an ultraviolet-C (UV-C) system. After the success of the UV-C trials, the organization initiated the purchase of UV-C units for the bin return system of CATSA Plus lines, in order to seamlessly disinfect the surfaces of bins. The installation of the systems and the training of screening officers is expected to be completed in 2023/24.