Airports are blaming COVID restrictions for airport chaos, but really they were just not ready

The crush, chaos, delays and line-ups at Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal airports (but mainly Toronto) has been well-documented. When we follow to Nicaragua at the end of March, the airports were deserted and the flying experience was actually remarkably pleasant. By the time my daughter flew to Belize at the beginning of May, it had devolved into chaos, and she took over four hours to traverse the airport, both leaving and arriving. 

But many of the suggested solutions are sounding a but disingenuous to me. The default position when anything goes wrong is to blame the government, and that is exactly what is happening here. 

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is blaming government-imposed COVID-19 checks and restrictions for the delays, and insists that the government summarily remove the last few restrictions that still remain, even the the restrictions that do remain in place are miniscule compared to just a few short months ago. The Canadian Airport Council also takes this line. A bunch of Canadian tourism organizations and assorted "business leaders" have also called for COVID protocols be done away with. It's like a slightly better-behaved truckers convoy, almost over again.

What is actually happening, though, is that international travel to Canada is booming (partly BECAUSE pandemic restrictions have been largely lifted), as well as Canadians themselves suddenly travelling while the going is relatively good, and the airports and travel industry were just not ready for it. At Pearson Airport in Toronto, for example, about 7,400 staff performed the security and administration work before the pandemic; currently, only 6,500 are doing that work. 

The airports took their eye off the ball, and did not see what was happening, and what it was pretty obvious would happen. Accusing the government and the pandemic rules is just them trying to shift the blame and an uncomfortable narrative, in my opinion.

And bear in mind that medical authorities are saying that the checks and restrictions at airports are still needed and still serve a purpose, including keeping out new variants. "They are inconvenient but they are, at this time, still necessary", as one infectious diseases researcher explains. The World Health Organization points out that, although cases worldwide are falling (although mainly because much less testing is being carried out), even that is not the case in the Americas and in Africa.

So, with blame and aspersions being cast around left, right and centre, a bit of perspective and consideration is needed here. In the scheme of things, the COVID checks are not that onerous. If we want to "live with COVID", as I keep hearing we do, that does not mean that ewerything will be just like it was back in the innocent and naive days of 2019.