How you can track Santa's journey on Christmas Eve

Santa’s global gift-giving journey is coming up this weekend, and one organization is on the job to track his whereabouts and help him along the way.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been tracking Santa for 67 years, working with partners in the Royal Canadian Air Force and the United States Air Force to complete this important holiday mission.

According to Major Trevor Reid, a public affairs officer with the 1 Canadian Air Division, tracking Santa starts with the North Warning System – a system of radars from Alaska across the Canadian north.

“This system will tell our aerospace controllers when Santa is airborne out of the North Pole,” he explained in an interview with CTV Morning Live on Friday.

From there, NORAD transitions to a network of globally-integrated satellite systems that tell the organization Santa’s location as he travels across the globe.

When Santa is approaching North America, the aerospace controllers will inform the NORAD headquarters, so they can launch CF-18s from Quebec and ensure he gets a warm welcome to North America.

“We’ll send our CF-18s up to welcome him. Now obviously, Santa’s got to slow down a little bit for our CF-18s,” Reid said, confirming that Santa travels faster than the fighter jets, which can travel about 1,800 km/h at maximum speed.

As Santa moves west across Canada, the NORAD pilots conduct handoffs with their American counterparts, who will help Santa travel safely across the United States.

Reid said the Santa-tracking mission is a “huge effort” for NORAD, but that it’s all about collaborating with their American allies and other Canadian military members.

“We are able to do such an important mission, making sure that Santa has a safe journey through our respective aerospace,” he said.

“Really, this is not something that is any different from what we do on a day-to-day basis, 365 days a year. We are always making sure that we are safeguarding our airspace. It’s a mission that we’re all very proud to do.”

Those who want to track Santa alongside NORAD on Christmas Eve can do so online, by downloading the NORAD Tracks Santa Claus app, or by calling the Santa Operations Centre at 1-877-446-6723.

- With files from CTV’s Nicole Dube.