Facilitating travel for Chinese transit passengers through Canada
July 30, 2015 — Ottawa — Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander is adding new departure cities to the China Transit Program. This program allows eligible Chinese travellers to transit visa-free through Toronto Pearson International Airport and Vancouver International Airport when they are en route to and from the United States.
Five additional departure points will be added to the program: Xiamen, Fuzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang and Harbin. They are joining a number of other cities that are already part of the program: Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Manila, and Taipei as well as Tokyo Narita, Tokyo Haneda and Seoul Incheon. These last three cities were added to the program this past May.
China-based Sichuan Airlines currently offers three direct flights weekly from Chengdu to Vancouver. It is hoped that the addition of Chengdu and the other new departure cities to the CTP will encourage airlines to add more routes to Canada and that Chinese travellers will choose Toronto and Vancouver as transit hubs.
The Government of Canada is committed to working with air industry stakeholders to make it easier for international travellers to transit through Canada while still protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians.
Source: Canada’s China Transit Program grows – Canada News Centre
