Determination No. A-2020-42

[1] On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization assessed the outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic.

[2] Since the outbreak of the virus, a number of countries, including Canada, have imposed travel bans, restrictions, or advisories.

[3] Public health experts have also recommended behaviours, such as enhanced hygiene practices and social distancing, to mitigate the spread of the virus.

[4] The situation is evolving rapidly, and further restrictions relating to travel may be implemented.

[5] The pandemic is causing a significant decrease in demand for air travel. Flying with many empty aircraft seats can result in significant financial difficulties for air carriers, which may therefore decide to cancel or consolidate flights. Due to the evolving nature of the situation and public behaviours, these decisions may need to be made much closer to a scheduled flight day than would normally be the case.

[6] Other aspects of air carrier operations may also be impacted by the pandemic, including but not limited to staff shortages due to quarantines or refusals to work, additional hygiene practices onboard the aircraft, and passenger health screenings. These factors may result in flight delays.

[7] Under the APPR, air carriers have minimum obligations to passengers when flights are cancelled or delayed. Those obligations depend on whether the disruption was within the control of the air carrier, within the air carrier’s control but required for safety, or outside the carrier’s control:

• Situations within the air carrier’s control: keep the passenger informed, provide standards of treatment (such as food and water), compensate the passenger for inconvenience, and rebook or refund the passenger.

• Situations within the air carrier’s control but required for safety: keep the passenger informed, provide standards of treatment, and rebook or refund the passenger.

• Situations outside the air carrier’s control: keep the passenger informed and rebook the passenger so the passenger can complete their itinerary.

[8] Section 10 of the APPR provides a non-exhaustive list of situations considered outside the air carrier’s control (the third category above). These include medical emergencies and orders or instructions from state officials. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the following would be considered outside a carrier’s control:

• flight disruptions to locations that are covered by a government advisory against travel or unnecessary travel due to COVID-19;

• employee quarantine or self-isolation due to COVID-19;

• employee refusal to work under Part II of the Canada Labour Code, R.S.C, 1985, c. L-2, (or equivalent law) due to COVID-19; and

• additional hygiene or passenger health screening processes put in place due to COVID-19.

[9] Beyond such situations, air carriers may make decisions that are influenced by the pandemic, including decisions to cancel and consolidate flights due to dropping passenger volumes. Whether such situations are within or outside carrier control would have to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. If the disruption was within the air carrier’s control, the air carrier would be subject to more onerous obligations.

[10] In the extraordinary context of this pandemic, reasonable expectations regarding air travel have changed, taking into account government travel bans, restrictions, and advisories; public health practices; and impacts on travel demand and air carrier operations.

CONCLUSION

[11] The Agency finds that, in the context of the significant declines in passenger volumes and disruptions to air carrier operations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, temporary exemptions to the APPR should be made to provide air carriers with increased flexibility to adjust flight schedules without facing prohibitive costs.

[12] Specifically, the Agency finds it undesirable, in the current extraordinary circumstances, that carriers be obligated to provide compensation for inconvenience to passengers who were informed of a flight delay or a flight cancellation more than 72 hours before their original scheduled departure or to passengers who were delayed at destination by less than six hours. The Agency further finds it undesirable that carriers be required to offer alternative travel arrangements that include flights on other air carriers with which they have no commercial agreement.

ORDER

[13] The Agency orders that all air carriers be exempted from:

• the obligation, under paragraphs 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b) of the APPR, to pay compensation for inconvenience
  • if the flight delay or the flight cancellation is communicated to passengers more than 72 hours before the departure time indicated on the passengers’ original ticket; or,

  • if the flight delay or the flight cancellation is communicated to the passengers within 72 hours of the departure time indicated on the original ticket, on condition that the carrier pays the passengers the following compensation for inconvenience;in the case of a large carrier,
    • in the case of a large carrier,

- $400, if the arrival of the passenger’s flight at the destination that is indicated on the original ticket is delayed by six hours or more, but less than nine hours, or

-  $700, if the arrival of the passenger’s flight at the destination that is indicated on the original ticket is delayed by nine hours or more; and

• • • in the case of a small carrier,

- $125, if the arrival of the passenger’s flight at the destination that is indicated on the original ticket is delayed by six hours or more, but less than nine hours, or

- $250, if the arrival of the passenger’s flight at the destination that is indicated on the original ticket is delayed by nine hours or more.

• the obligation, under subsection 19(2) of the APPR to pay compensation for inconvenience to passengers who opted to obtain a refund instead of alternative travel arrangement, if the flight delay or the flight cancellation is communicated to passengers more than 72 hours before the departure time indicated on the passengers’ original ticket;

• the obligation, under paragraphs 17(1)(a)(ii),17(1)(a)(iii), and 18(1)(a)(ii) of the APPR to provide a confirmed reservation on a flight operated by a carrier with which the carrier does not have any commercial agreement.

[14] The exemption is effective immediately, will remain valid until April 30, 2020, and may be extended by a further determination of the Agency, if required.