House Transportation Committee Holds Emergency Meeting on Airport Delays

Article Author:

The Canadian Press

Nojoud Al Mallees

OTTAWA — House Transportation Committee will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss whether to proceed with an investigation into airport delays and flight cancellations.

Airlines and airports are grappling with a surge in travel this summer due to staffing shortages affecting both airlines and federal agencies.

This resulted in widespread flight cancellations, baggage delays and long queues, with Pearson International Airport in the Toronto metropolitan area hit hardest by these issues.

John Gladek, director of the aviation management program at McGill University, says airlines have aggressively increased flight schedules as travel picks up again, but are concerned about their own labor shortages. said he didn't keep it.

Airlines lay off workers early in the pandemic and face the challenge of getting enough workers back into the industry. And we started scheduling and basically we were very aggressive to get as much traffic as possible but we didn't really understand the impact that would have on our ability to do all of this

Gradek said airports do not limit the number of flights to capacity, so airports are not responsible for delays. Part of the problem, he said, is that they don't have the authority to order airlines to cut flights.

Last week, the head of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority said delays in Canada's busiest travel hub were declining, but failed to make any concrete commitments or timelines to improve travel times going forward.

Other airports around the world have ordered airlines to cut flights: Britain's Heathrow Airport has ordered airlines to stop selling tickets for summer flights after imposing a cap on the number of passengers per day

"Airlines don't want to reduce schedules because they lose market share," says Gradek.

He is meticulous about the proposed solutions coming out of the Transport Commission to minimize airport disruption the next time the country faces a crisis. said to pay attention to.

"We need some authority," he said, as friendly efforts to resolve the matter were unsuccessful.

Air Canada said in June it would cut more than 9,500 flights in July and more than 15% of its August schedule due to strains in its air transport system. WestJet, meanwhile, said it had "aggressively" removed flights from Pearson's schedule in anticipation of the summer travel turmoil.

Transport Canada said the government and the aviation industry are working together to improve travel through stakeholder meetings, increased staff levels and improvements to the ArriveCAN app.

Air Canada has also been criticized for refusing to claim compensation for passengers, citing staffing shortages due to the pandemic.

This Canadian Press report was first published on August 8, 2022.

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