Pearson International Airport has resumed normal operations after thousands of passengers were grounded Thursday morning.
A spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority said just after 11 a.m., hours after airline staff mistakenly directed arriving passengers to the wrong door, the airport had resolved the issue and resumed normal operations. It was confirmed.
Sean Davidson, a spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), told CP24 earlier Thursday that “a ground crew contracted by an airline directed arriving passengers from a plane to the wrong area of the airport.” Told.
“While there is no immediate security threat here at the airport as these passengers are currently being mixed with those bound for the United States, U.S. Customs is currently working to determine who is being screened and who is not. We need to do some work to figure out exactly who, unfortunately, isn’t getting tested, and that’s just going to take a little bit of time.”
The incident disrupted flights in the Terminal 1 cross-border area for several hours.
Images sent to CP24 showed hundreds of passengers waiting inside the terminal, along with airline staff, police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) agents.
Passenger Michael Kulba, who was waiting to board a flight to Miami, told CP24 Thursday morning that the area had been locked down since about 7:30 a.m.
“We don’t know much about it,” Kulba says.
“Customs is here, police are here. No one is allowed in or out. There are no planes coming or going.”
The airport had previously confirmed that operations in the domestic and international areas of Terminal 1 and all zones of Terminal 3 would not be affected.
Mr Davidson said passengers affected by delays should speak to their respective airlines about next steps, but Pearson staff were also on hand to assist.
He told CP24: “My heart goes out to the passengers who were delayed this morning as a result of this issue.”
