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Ottawa wants to shed more light on how well airports work as travel increases

The federal government this week took action to strengthen accountability at airports by introducing new legislation that would force them and other operators to cough up more information about their performance.

The bill, tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, paves the way for new rules on service standards, requiring airports and a range of industry players to publish data that can be compared against those benchmarks.

The standards can track results ranging from waiting times for security checks to how long it takes for luggage to reach the carousel. They would apply to Canada’s Air Transport Security Agency, Air Navigation Service, airlines and baggage handling companies, among others.

“As we’ve seen in recent years, a failure in one part of the system can have a major impact on the entire network,” transportation minister Omar Alghabra said at a news conference in Ottawa.

“The idea is that once you establish a standard of service, airports are accountable to airlines, airlines are accountable to airports, Nav Canada is accountable to airports… to airlines,” Alghabra said, adding that “there are consequences” for those who don’t meet the bar.

However, it is not clear from the bill whether violations of the standard of service will be penalized.

“There’s a lot about data sharing, but not much about what or who would take action and under what circumstances action would be taken,” said John Gradek, a lecturer in McGill University’s aviation management program.

“There may be sanctions, but even those powers are left for the government to create” — rather than being enshrined in law from the start — said Air Passenger Rights president Gabor Lukacs.

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Arriving just before house rises for summer – all but ensuring it won’t pass until fall at the earliest – the legislation also comes as airline activity picks up for summer after a year of airport chaos and flight delays during busy travel seasons.

Last month, the National Airlines Council released a report calling for Ottawa to implement “shared accountability” in aviation, with the goal of smoother travel — and overall accountability for flight disruptions.

The proposals came just three weeks after the House introduced legislation to overhaul passenger rights. The travel turmoil following the pandemic last summer and during the winter holidays prompted the Liberal government to make sweeping changes to Canada’s passenger rights charter in an effort to tighten loopholes in the compensation scheme and toughen penalties.

The recommendations of the aviation council contain striking similarities with those of Tuesday’s legislation. Both call for “service standards” for operators in the industry ranging from airports to Nav Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency.

“They may have internal key performance indicators… but there is no accountability for them. There’s certainly no public reporting on them,” Jeff Morrison, CEO of the council, said in a May 11 phone interview.

Alghabra maintained that summer looks set to be a smoother ride than a year ago.

“I feel that the system is much better prepared. However, I keep an eye on their performance,” he told reporters.

However, travel problems persist.

At Toronto’s Pearson Airport, some 1,248 flights from Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge and Jazz Aviation, which provide regional services to the country’s largest airline, were delayed or canceled Thursday through Sunday – more than half of the airline travel – according to tracking firm FlightAware. Similar figures came from Trudeau Airport in Montreal.

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“As with any system, it can slow down processes when operating at full capacity and can take longer to recover when problems arise – for example, when thunderstorms shut down our operation, as we saw over the weekend in the US Northeast, Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email.

The airline said headcount is higher than in summer 2019, despite currently operating at 90 percent of pre-pandemic flight capacity.

Canadian Airports Council President Monette Pasher said in a statement that she supports the new law, which is an effort to prepare for the seasonal travel rush: “This is all part of intense summer preparation by the ecosystem. “

Not all groups were so supportive. Unifor president Lana Payne, whose union represents some 16,000 Canadian aviation workers, said labor conditions were “a huge piece of the puzzle.”

The union demanded that the government require airport operators to pay a living wage “rather than the bare minimum” and end “the worst consequences of contract reversal” by switching service providers every few years to guarantee lower costs.

“If the quality of jobs in the industry continues to deteriorate, the standard of service will never be met,” said Leslie Dias, Unifor’s director of airlines.

The legislation, known as Bill C-52, also outlines a plan to consult the public about airspace changes affecting noise near airports, to require larger airport authorities to report on plans to reduce pollution. and to force service providers to provide accessibility data to the government. It authorizes a process to address accessibility complaints from persons with disabilities.

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The bill further aims to increase transparency about how a port sets its fees by requiring port authorities to “follow certain principles when setting or amending” them. It also details a process for challenging newly established fees through the country’s transportation regulator.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 20, 2023.

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