The Canadian Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, will have to testify about Canada’s continuing airport congestion and other travel problems in the next ten days or so. The House of Commons Transport Committee held an emergency meeting on Monday to debate Conservative transport critic Melissa Lantsman’s request to have the minister, a key member of the Justin Trudeau Cabinet, appear “for no fewer than two hours and answer questions about flight delays and cancellations at Toronto Pearson and other Canadian airports. The Lantsman motion was approved unanimously. Alghabra also has been asked to talk about the government’s unpopular ArriveCAN app, Read more
Ottawa
Members of a House of Commons committee plan to meet Monday to discuss a request for a study of Canadian flight cancellations and airport delays. CTV News reports that members of the House of Commons Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Committee are scheduled to meet on Monday. “Throughout this the height of our travel season, the government has refused to listen to advocates, front-line workers and ordinary Canadians to make common-sense improvements to our country’s airports and scrap their continued measures leading to further delays,” said Conservative transport critic and committee vice-chair Melissa Lantsman, in an email to CTVNews.ca on Friday. Read more
The Trudeau government says it’s continuing to work at easing crowding and other problems at Canadian airports, and that senior officials met with Toronto Pearson Airport management this week. It doesn’t appear to be helping, as cancellations and delays remain about what they were a week ago. FlightAware.com reports 33 flights were cancelled at Pearson on Wednesday, roughly 5% of all flights. Another 242 departing flights were delayed, about 40%. It wasn’t a lot better at Montreal Trudeau, where seven flights (2%) were cancelled and 123 flights (39%) were delayed. Here’s a statement they issued today: The Minister of Transport, Read more
Air Transat is getting a $150 million assistance package from the Trudeau government. Transat A.T. Inc. announced today that it has reached an agreement with Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation (“CEEFC”), a federal Crown corporation, to obtain $100 million in added financing, as well as $50 million in credit. “In this final LEEFF (Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility) loan, Transat will receive up to $150 million to protect Canadian jobs and ensure operations can continue, despite the company’s ongoing capital operating challenges as a result of the pandemic,” the government said in a press released. “The amount consists of $100 Read more
I was at Toronto Pearson today at 9:30 a.m., and it was like another world. Hardly any cars at the departures level, only a few people in line for the Air Canada U.S. ticket window, and maybe 15-20 people that I could see in line for security. Which made me wonder? Was I just there at the right time, or are things improving at Canada’s busiest – and most vilified – airport? “We’re starting to see improvements on average wait times, both with departures and arrivals, but there’s more work to be done to provide reliability and consistency for our Read more
