LOCATION: National
ISSUE/SOURCE: Canada’s air passenger rights
DATE: May 2025
SUGGESTED RESPONSES
- The Government of Canada will continue to ensure that travellers’ rights are respected when air travel does not go as planned.
- The Canadian Transportation Agency (the Agency) recently consulted on a revised Air Passenger Protection Regulations (through Canada Gazette, Part I) which aim to make the regime clearer for travellers and air carriers. The formal consultation process ended on March 6, 2025, and the Agency continues to review and consider comments received before moving forward.
- I look forward to receiving the Agency’s recommended revisions as soon as possible.
IF PRESSED
Air Passenger Protection Regulations
- Transport Canada remains committed to working with the Agency to modernize and adapt Air Passenger Protection Regulations to ensure an equitable balance between passenger protection and carrier viability.
Complaints Backlog
- The Agency implemented a more streamlined process for resolving air travel complaints, and we expect to see progress on this.
- Reducing the complaints backlog, further streamlining the complaints process, and finalizing the regulations are top priorities and I have asked my officials to work closely with the Agency to find solutions.
Cost Recovery
- The Agency consulted on a cost recovery proposal that would offset the costs of processing complaints. I look forward to receiving their official proposal.
- The Agency and Transport Canada continue to evaluate the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, complaints resolution process and the cost recovery regime, and are working to find opportunities for continuous and meaningful improvement.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
- The pandemic and the following recovery period submitted Canada’s passenger rights regime, which fully came into force in December 2019, to an unmanageable stress test and led to a subsequent influx of complaints (current backlog as of May 2025 is 84,300).
- In June 2023, a suite of legislative amendments to the Canada Transportation Act came into force to strengthen the regime. The amendments introduced a simpler and more streamlined air travel complaint resolution process (in place as of September 2023), mandated the to develop a cost recovery regime for processing of eligible complaints (regime being developed), provided the Agency with regulation-making authority to simplify and strengthen Canada’s air passenger rights regulations (draft regulations completed the Canada Gazette Part I process and feedback is being assessed) and enhanced the enforcement powers.
- Among other things, legislative amendments provided the Agency with regulation-making authority to strengthen, simplify and clarify the regime by:
- Putting the onus on air carriers where it is presumed that compensation is payable unless they can demonstrate otherwise.
- Removing the three broad categories of disruptions and make compensation mandatory for all disruptions, unless the disruption was caused by a very limited list of circumstances that would be specifically defined by regulations.
- Making standards of treatment, such as the provision of food and water, mandatory for all flight disruptions.
- In Summer 2023, the Agency held a pre-consultation process with the public and industry stakeholders to inform of the upcoming regulatory changes. Following the assessment of the input provided, and discussions with the Department, the Agency developed proposed regulations amending the APPR. These were subject to a formal consultation process in Part I of the Canada Gazette that ended on March 6, 2025. The Agency is currently assessing the input received
- The Agency implemented a streamlined process for resolving air travel complaints in September 2023. The Agency has augmented its capacity to address complaints based on a combination of additional funding and internal process efficiencies. Despite these improvements, the backlog continues to grow and further efficiencies must be identified. Transport Canada is committed to working with the Agency to identify process improvements and support their cost recovery efforts.
- On cost recovery for complaints, the Agency consulted throughout Fall 2024 on a fee proposal of $790 per eligible air travel complaint. Industry stakeholders have raised concerns on the fee proposal, especially with respect to the unbalanced incentives this high fee would create for the air carriers to always seek to settle the complaints by paying the lower compensation amount to the complainant. As such, alternative approaches are currently being explored by the Agency.