OTTAWA — Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon faced questions on Parliament Hill this week about airlines’ use of safety-related maintenance exemptions to deny passengers compensation for cancelled flights, according to the CBC.
Recent investigations by CBC’s Go Public found instances in which Air Canada and WestJet cancelled flights citing maintenance issues, then used functioning aircraft originally assigned to those flights on other routes. Passengers affected by the cancellations were subsequently denied compensation.
Speaking on Parliament Hill before a standing committee on finance, MacKinnon pointed to the independence of the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), which oversees air passenger complaints.
“I’m reluctant to give them instructions directly,” MacKinnon told CBC News.
Conservative MP Dan Albas also raised the issue during a parliamentary finance committee meeting, asking whether moving an aircraft to another route qualified as a safety-related exemption.
“The CTA is the regulator,” MacKinnon replied.
Under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, travellers may be entitled to up to $1,000 in compensation for qualifying flight disruptions within an airline’s control. Airlines are exempt from paying compensation when a disruption is required for safety.
The latest questions follow a Go Public investigation involving Juan Rojas, whose Air Canada flight from Montreal to Bogota was cancelled because of what the airline described as maintenance requirements.
Air Canada initially denied compensation, but Rojas challenged the decision after discovering that the damaged aircraft cited by the airline was not the plane originally assigned to his flight.
The CTA subsequently ordered Air Canada to pay Rojas $1,000. No administrative penalty was imposed. Go Public has also reported on similar cases involving WestJet, where the regulator did not issue fines.
In a statement to CBC, Air Canada maintained that reassigning aircraft was a commercial decision and that it was entitled to deny compensation. Previous CTA decisions have found that mechanical problems must be the direct cause of a cancellation for the safety-related exemption to apply
