Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

With Mount Rainier in the background, the first scheduled Boeing 787 airplane to depart from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport takes off Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012 in Seattle. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Ted S. Warren

A new report finds that a soaring number of jet-setting Canadians are border-hopping to catch cheaper flights.

The Conference Board of Canada report says about five million Canadians now cross the U.S. border by land every year to fly out of American airports.

It says higher airfares and fees and taxes in Canada, as well as differences in wages, aircraft prices and industry productivity makes it 30 per cent cheaper to fly out of the U.S.

The Conference Board says fees and taxes make up about 40 per cent of the cost of an airplane ticket in Canada.

The report suggests that while other factors are beyond government control, small reductions in the airfare differential could lead to traffic gains for Canadian airports and carriers.

It estimates that changes to Canadian policies alone could bring more than two million passengers a year back to Canadian airports.

The analysis, released Wednesday, focused on Vancouver International Airport, Pearson International Airport in Toronto, and Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, along with their cross-border competitors.