Customs systems back up after outage causes hours-long delays across Canada

A spokeswoman for Vancouver International Airport says the Canada Border Services Agency‘s primary inspection kiosks are back up and running after a nationwide outage caused hours-long delays for travellers.

Jenny Duncan says YVR was notified of the outage around 7 a.m. Pacific Time and international flight arrivals began to get busier around 11 a.m.

Duncan says she doesn’t have statistics handy, but an hours-long outage of the CBSA systems is “very rare.”

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Airport staff tweeted at around 1:30 p.m. that they were working to help arriving guests fill out customs forms manually, as well as keep people hydrated.

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A number of other airports across Canada took to Twitter to warn travellers about similar issues. They include Ottawa, Calgary, and Toronto Pearson.

A representative from the Canada Border Services Agency was not immediately available to respond to a request for more information.