Participate as an airport authority or airline – China Transit Program

Airport authorities

Current participants

At present, the China Transit Program (CTP) operates at Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia, Canada and at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (Terminal 1 only) in Ontario, Canada.

Eligibility criteria

An airport authority must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the program:

• There is a functioning U.S. in-transit pre-clearance (USITPC) facility at the airport;
• It has the required facilities to allow passengers under the CTP to go from the airplane directly to a USITPC facility or to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) area for examination or to a designated transit area for Fifth Freedom Right* flights whose passengers are to be examined upon arrival in the United States; and
• It signs a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the CBSA that sets out the terms and conditions of the CTP.

Notice: To exercise the Fifth Freedom Right*, the airline’s home country must have obtained the necessary Fifth Freedom Right in its air agreements with both the bilateral partner country and the third country involved. For more information, contact Transport Canada.

*The Fifth Freedom Right is the right of an airline from one country to land in a second country, pick up passengers and fly them to a third country where passengers then deplane.

Airlines

Current participants

The following airlines are currently eligible to transport passengers under the CTP:

• Air Canada
• Air China
• Cathay Pacific
• China Airlines
• Philippine Airlines
• Jazz Air
• Sky Regional Airlines Inc.

Eligibility criteria

An airline must meet specific criteria in order to be eligible for the CTP including, but not limited to, the following:

• meets all requirements to fly into Canada and to operate in Canadian airspace;
• flies to a Transit Without Visa (TWOV)-approved airport;
• has access to USITPC facilities at the airport or a designated transit area for Fifth Freedom Right flights;
• holds an MOU with the CBSA that is in good standing as per section 280 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (this MOU outlines the requirements for transporting passengers to Canada);
• signs a TWOV Program MOU with CIC and the CBSA (as a precondition to joining the CTP) and demonstrate a period of compliance with the terms and conditions as set out in the TWOV MOU; and,
• signs a a CTP MOU with CIC and the CBSA that sets out the terms and conditions of the CTP, pending the outcome of the TWOV MOU compliance period.

Important: Participating airlines must collect and report CTP passenger data to the Government of Canada, as identified in the TWOV MOU, for statistical and program evaluation purposes.

Application process

If airport authorities and airlines meet the minimum eligibility criteria, they are invited to submit a formal business case directly to CIC and the CBSA. Find out more about the application process.