Canada’s Secretary of Transportation has denied allegations that the federal government has asked airlines to reduce their schedules and cancel flights to alleviate recent travel delays.
In a statement to CTV News on Tuesday, the office of Minister Omar Algabra acknowledged that the current situation at Canadian airports was “disappointing” and that the federal government was working on ways to help resolve it. to reduce services.
“We are working very closely with [Canadian Air Transport Security Authority] to ensure that staffing problems are resolved as quickly as possible. With this in mind, we can confirm that our government has never wanted and will not ask airlines to reduce their flight schedules, “the statement said.
The response follows a tweet from Duncan Dee, a former chief operating officer of Air Canada, who said he had been informed that airlines had been asked to reduce their schedules to “help with the mess created by the federal government at the airport.”
He continues to claim that Ottawa “has completely lost the conspiracy.” As countries around the world seek to reopen travel and tourism, he said Canada is “looking to close it.”
In recent weeks, a number of airports have reported extremely long queues at airport security checkpoints and border checkpoints, while passengers say they have to wait for hours – and sometimes miss flights.
WestJet told CTV News on Tuesday that it remained “extremely concerned” about the state of services provided by government agencies at air borders and security checkpoints.
“Our schedules are set months in advance to best serve our guests and stimulate the recovery of our nation. We would reject any request to reduce flights due to lack of government resources, “the statement said.
“This is an urgent problem that needs immediate improvement, and we remain focused on resolving the issue directly with the federal government, while working in collaboration with our airport partners.
Algabra told reporters last week that the delays could also be caused by passengers getting used to the airport’s processes again after being punished for two years for the pandemic.
“Taking out laptops, taking out liquids – it all adds 10 seconds here, 15 seconds there,” he said.
The minister added that the Canadian Air Safety Authority (CATSA) had relied on a six-month deadline as it concerned the distribution of the workforce and estimates of the volume, which was reduced to 72 to 48 hours.
CATSA CEO Mike Saunders issued a statement on May 2, noting that the corporation is feeling the impact of accumulated demand for air travel, complicated by two years of layoffs.
“While the security corporation’s outsourcers – who are responsible for providing the inspection staff with a workforce – are working to increase staff, they are not immune to the recruitment challenges of the wider commercial aviation industry and indeed many industries in Canada at the moment, “the statement said.
At the beginning of the CATSA pandemic, there were nearly 7,400 screening staff located across the country. As of Tuesday, they have approximately 6,500 inspection staff, but aim to hire another 1,000 this year.
The Conservative Party of Canada, meanwhile, has called on the federal government to lift COVID-19 mandates for domestic travel, among other priorities, to alleviate airport delays.
With files from Brooklyn Neustatter and Kevin Gallagher from CTV News.
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