Border inspection kiosks outage resolved after causing delays at Canadian airports

A Canada Boarder Services Agency (CBSA) patch is seen in Ottawa, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

An outage affecting border inspection kiosks which caused delays at some airports Thursday has been resolved, according to Canada’s border agency.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said the outage began at approximately 10:20 a.m. and affected kiosks at “multiple” Canadian international airports before it was resolved shortly before 2 p.m.

“Travellers may continue to experience delays in the short term as we resume normal processing operations. We thank you for your patience and apologize for any inconvenience experienced,” the CBSA wrote on social media.

The self-serve kiosks are located at major airports across the country and are used by passengers touching down in Canada from an international flight. Travellers can use the devices to verify their identity and make a declaration during the customs and immigration process.

A spokesperson for the national border agency previously told CTV News that travellers were being re-directed to the primary inspection lines for manual processing during the hours-long outage.

Delays were reported at Toronto Pearson International Airport, Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, Calgary International Airport, and Vancouver International Airport.

This is the second time in five days that an outage of the CBSA’s primary inspection kiosks caused delays at airports across the country.

The reach of Thursday’s outage is unclear, but a spokesperson for the CBSA said it “may” have extended to all Canadian international airports which house the kiosks.

The spokesperson added that Thursday’s incident is linked to the outage earlier this week, which was caused by “an unforeseen technical issue during routine systems maintenance.”

“It was not the result of any cyberattack,” the spokesperson said.