OTTAWA, Canada – The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) launched a consultation to hear from members of the public, consumer groups and other interested stakeholders on requests by airlines for temporary adjustments to certain obligations under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR).
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC), Air Canada and Sunwing Airlines have asked the CTA to temporarily adjust certain compensation and rebooking requirements in the APPR, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CTA is now seeking input on:
- Whether airlines should be required to follow APPR requirements to rebook passengers on other airlines during the pandemic;
- Whether airlines should have to pay compensation for inconvenience during the pandemic under more limited circumstances, for example: if they told passengers about the disruption less than 3 days in advance (instead of 14 days); and
- If the passenger’s delay was six or more hours (instead of three or more hours);
- Whether airlines should be given more time to respond to requests for compensation for inconvenience filed between July 1, 2020, and September 29, 2020; and
- How long any temporary adjustments to the APPR should be in place if the CTA decides that any should be made.
More detailed information can be found in the CTA’s Consultation Paper.
The CTA will decide whether to grant the requests, using the CTA’s powers under section 80 of the Canada Transportation Act. Temporary adjustments may be allowed if the CTA finds it unnecessary, undesirable or impractical for certain APPR requirements to apply for a particular period of time.
The CTA will consider all the information submitted – including in this public consultation – and make its final determination as soon as possible. The determination will be published on the CTA’s website.
How to submit input
You can send your written submissions to Consultations-aeriennes.Air-Consultations@otc-cta.gc.ca by January 15, 2021.