Canada to End COVID Vaccine Mandate

COVID-19 Vaccination No Longer Required for Domestic Travel by Air and Train, and International Outbound Travelers

June 14th, 2022 – The Canadian government has announced the end to COVID-19 vaccination requirements for domestic air travel and for Canadians traveling internationally.

Source: unsplash

International traveler and foreign nationals visiting Canada will still need to be fully-vaccinated, and the change in policy will go into effect on June 20th.

The government will not change the re-entry rules for travelers, and unvaccinated Canadian citizens and permanent residents must quarantine after re-entry. This also including truckers and other people crossing the border for work.

It is also expected that the vaccine mandate for federal employees will be suspended, including staff in the aviation industry.

This comes following Sunday, when the federal government put a temporary hold on random COVID-19 tests for vaccinated travelers.

Travelers arriving from outside Canada who are not vaccinated are still required to take a COVID test, and on July 1, the random and mandatory re-entry tests will be set up to outside of airports.

Groups for business and tourism have advocated for the government to end the mandates, arguing against the rules to relieve congestion at the nation’s busiest airports.

Airports, airlines and others within the travel industry have also said that the vaccine mandates were contributing to an employee shortage while normal travel is recovering, making delays worse at customs, baggage and security checkpoints, and delaying or canceling some flight altogether.

Vaccination mandates may be reinstated if stronger variants or larger waves appear in the fall and winter, according to government sources.

Commercial airline passengers will still be subject to health questionnaires and wearing masks onboard while not eating or drinking.

Private Flights in Canada

The end of vaccination requirements will also apply to travelers on private planes, who were also subjected to Canada’s vaccination travel requirements. If you have any questoins about private flights and air charters in Canada, or would like a free charter quote for an upcoming flight, please submit a request or call us at +1 (888) 987-5387.