5. Air transportation

5.1 Licensing and charter permits

Licences

The CTA issues the licences and permits needed to operate an air service to, from, and within Canada. Regulatory requirements include Canadian aviation documents, insurance, and, for Canadian carriers, ownership and control in fact. The regime distinguishes domestic, international scheduled, and international non-scheduled services, ensuring that market entry is controlled, transparent, and aligned with Canada’s international air transport obligations and agreements.

Charter permits and notifications

International charters under a non-scheduled licence require additional approvals, such as a formal authorization (permit) issued by a Member, pre-flight notifications, or post-facto reports, with the CTA assessing compliance with regulations, international obligations, and reciprocity.

Related obligations

The CTA monitors licence holders who must continuously meet all requirements, including annual insurance renewal, to keep their licence valid. Canadian carriers planning to discontinue or cut a domestic route must provide advance notice to the CTA, affected communities, and Ministers.

5.2 Air tariffs

About tariffs

An air tariff establishes the contract of carriage between the air carrier and passengers, shippers, or charterers. It outlines an air carrier’s tolls (which are fares, rates and charges applied for transporting passengers or goods, including incidental services), and terms and conditions. Every carrier that offers or sells air transportation to, from, or within Canada must have a tariff applicable to passengers or cargo for both scheduled and non-scheduled services.

In respect to passenger services, it covers the passengers’ rights and obligations, as well as the air carrier’s rights and responsibilities towards the passenger. The APPR sets out rules that air carriers must follow for matters such as flight cancellations, delays and denied boarding and lost, damaged or delayed baggage. These form part of an air carrier’s tariff. Air carriers must also include other policies in their tariff which are not related to the APPR rules, but that affect passenger transportation (i.e., policies around reservations, tickets, and refunds).

The CTA enforces the application of tariffs and may hear complaints from anyone who believes these tariff requirements were not met. The CTA also rules on tariff matters – either because a complaint was filed, or on its own motion, and it can suspend, disallow, or substitute tariff provisions it finds to be unjust, unreasonable, or unduly discriminatory.

Publishing tariffs

Air carriers’ tariffs must be publicly available on their website, and at business offices (through signage) such as airport terminals and city ticketing offices. Domestic air carriers are required to post their historical terms and conditions on their websites.

Sample tariffs

The CTA has created a sample tariff for air carriers that offer passenger services, both domestically and internationally, which provides carriers an example which meets all applicable rules and best practices.

5.3 International agreements

The CTA participates in the negotiation and administration of Canada's international air transport agreements (ATA), which provide rights to airlines from one or multiple state(s) to operate international air services to another state. The Ministers of Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Transport Canada establish the negotiating mandate and CTA staff engage in the drafting of the proposed text and proposals or position papers related to areas of CTA jurisdiction or expertise. During negotiations, CTA staff provide advice to the Chief Air Negotiator (GAC) and present explanatory information to the foreign government as required.

CTA staff maintain an extensive, secure database of air transport agreements and related correspondence which is relied upon as a research tool for the preparation and negotiation of agreements – and provides information and advice to its Members on the results of negotiations, such as administrative actions that may be required (e.g. issuance of new licences or tariff filing requirements).

The CTA also provides support to other Government of Canada departments and agencies, including Canada's Mission to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on matters related to ICAO Annex 9 (Facilitation), including the filing of any differences for Canada to the Standards and Recommended Practices contained in Annex 9. CTA staff serve as Canada's designated member on the ICAO Facilitation Panel and head and secretary of Canada's National Facilitation Committee.

5.4 Financial evaluation

As part of the CTA’s broader mandate to administer and enforce the Act, it provides rigorous financial, economic, and ownership analyses to support licensing decisions and the ongoing oversight of air carriers operating in Canada.

Ownership requirements review

One of the CTA’s responsibilities is to verify compliance with Canadian ownership requirements as set out in the Act. This involves detailed assessments of corporate structures, shareholder arrangements, voting rights, and control-in-fact considerations to ensure that licensed air carriers remain “Canadian” at all times. This work often requires disentangling layered corporate structures and assessing whether non-Canadian entities exert determining and dominant influence.

Financial evaluation requirements review

The CTA is also responsible for assessing whether applicants seeking to enter the market meet the financial requirements necessary for sustainable operations. This includes evaluating start-up funding, liquidity, financial forecasts, and overall financial resilience. Through this rigorous evaluation, the CTA ensures that new entrants are financially fit and adequately financed, capable of delivering reliable service, and unlikely to pose risks to market stability or consumer interests.

Advanced Canadian status determinations and corporate restructuring

The CTA reviews mergers and acquisitions, changes in ownership, financing arrangements, and governance structures to assess their potential impact on compliance with Canadian ownership and control requirements.

By conducting forward-looking assessments, the CTA proactively identifies and addresses regulatory risks before they materialize. This function provides clarity and predictability to industry stakeholders while ensuring that evolving corporate arrangements remain aligned with legislative requirements.

5.5 Current air transportation issues

Issue 1: Indexation of liability insurance

Background information

Under the Air Transportation Regulations, air carriers’ minimum liability insurance is indexed every five years; the next adjustment is on July 1, 2026. Maintaining the required insurance is a licence condition; all carriers must comply with the deadline or face suspension.

Next steps

Since December 2025, the CTA has been engaging licensees to encourage early compliance and prevent a surge of suspensions on July 1, 2026.

Issue 2: E-Portal for licensing

Background information

The modernization of the Licensing and Charter regimes is a key initiative to digitize the Division’s transactional environment. The platform will provide a means to replace all current fragmented manual processes with a secure single-window interface supporting more than 6,000 annual transactions (e.g., licence applications, insurance renewals, charter notifications). The e-Portal will provide industry a simpler means to submit applications and information to the CTA and will include real-time tracking of these requests.

Next steps

The project is currently underway, with work initially focusing on providing a system for air carriers to file their service schedules followed by one that will address the filing of tariffs through an e-portal. Development and implementation activities are in progress, with full implementation planned over two years.