People look on as an Air Canada plane takes off at Trudeau Airport in Montreal on June 11. New federal legislation introduced Tuesday would affect all private-sector companies and government agencies, including security screeners and navigation services, that work at Canada’s large airports.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Airlines, airports, baggage handlers and other companies involved in aviation will soon have to set service standards and let the public know how closely they come to meeting those goals, according to federal legislation introduced on Tuesday.
The bill intends to improve “accountability and transparency” for customers and companies in the air-travel industry, said Transport Minister Omar Alghabra. The rules would affect all private-sector companies and government agencies, including security screeners and navigation services, that work at Canada’s large airports.
Canada Customs, for example, would be required to determine and post expected wait times to pass through screening. Airlines would have to do the same for luggage arriving on a terminal carousel.
The legislation does not indicate that there will be penalties for not meeting the standards that are set.
The changes are part of the government’s response to the chaos at many Canadian airports at Christmas and during the summer of 2022. Since then, Ottawa has also toughened the laws around the way airlines are required to treat passengers when flights are disrupted or baggage is lost.
The summer of 2022 was marred by long delays at many of Canada’s airports, as poorly staffed government agencies, airlines, baggage handlers and others were not able to handle the surge in passengers.
“The sector is highly interdependent, and if some disruption happens at an airport in luggage handling … then it could have an impact on an airline performance,” Mr. Alghabra said at a news conference on Parliament Hill on Tuesday. “This framework now holds the sector accountable to each other.
“I am very confident that these standards will [lead to] improvement,” he added.
Mr. Alghabra said he has been assured by airlines they are ready to handle the volume of travellers this summer, expected to nearly match that of 2019, before the pandemic halted air travel and sent the global aviation industry into a state of crisis.
The Canadian Airports Council said it supports the legislation. “Better data-sharing is in the best interest of the travelling public,” said RJ Steenstra, president of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and chair of the council, the lobby group for airports.
“We already share accountability through our commercial contractual relationships and are continually improving communications for the passenger,” said Monette Pasher, president of the council.
“This is all part of an intense summer readiness push across the ecosystem. Airports have been working to co-ordinate their own preparations with those of the airlines, government, and third-party contractors, in order to help them improve security, boarding, baggage, customs and ground handling.”
The proposed changes also include requiring airports to publish their pollution-reduction plans, and report on the diversity of their directors and senior management.
The legislation also amends the Marine Act to require port operators to follow certain principles when setting or raising fees. Port users and tenants would be able to challenge these charges before the Canadian Transportation Agency.