Canadian Transportation Agency to hold public hearing on Air Transat tarmac delays
The Canadian Transportation Agency will take the unusual step of holding a public hearing on why two Air Transat planes sat for hours on the tarmac at Ottawa Airport.
The agency said it plans to hold a public hearing on August 30-31..
Before then it is seeking written and verbal submissions from anyone involved or affected by the incident.
Air Transat and Ottawa Airport have been playing the blame game since the incident a week ago which played out on social media with passengers confined to the cabin for up to six hours.
Two jets bound for Montreal were initially rerouted to the airport due to bad weather.
The under pressure airline’s president Jean-Francois Lemay said airports should be compelled to ‘provide critical infrastructure and related operational ground support in a timely manner.’
"Indeed, as we have clearly seen in this case, the tendency is to focus solely on the actions of the airline," Lemay wrote in the letter yo the agency.
"This must not be the basis for informed legislation going forward."
That legislation is a passenger bill of rights which is expected to be approved by the end of the year.
"When passengers buy an airline ticket, they expect and deserve that the airline will respect its agreement with them. When the terms of that agreement are not met, passengers should know their rights and be entitled to compensation where appropriate," said Transport Minister Marc Garneau.
"There should be a certain minimum standard of treatment when things do not go as planned."
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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