The Canadian Transportation Agency launches consultations to strengthen air passenger protection

Today, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) is launching consultations on proposed amendments to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), and invites Canadians to participate.

July 11, 2023 – Gatineau, QC – Canadian Transportation Agency

Today, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) is launching consultations on proposed amendments to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), and invites Canadians to participate.

The Budget Implementation Act introduces changes to the Canada Transportation Act (the Act) to clarify, simplify and strengthen the Canadian air passenger protection regime. The CTA will have to make regulations to implement these changes.

The consultation period will be open for 30 calendar days and end August 10, 2023. After considering the feedback and comments received, the CTA will publish draft regulations in Canada Gazette Part I. There will be an opportunity to review and comment on the draft regulations before they are finalized, approved by the CTA and Cabinet, and published in Canada Gazette II.

More information about the consultation process can be found on our website, including instructions for providing comments on our Consultation Paper.

The changes to the Act strengthen Air Passenger Protection eliminate the current three categories of flight disruptions which were used to determine the compensation to which passengers were entitled.

Airlines will have to provide compensation for inconvenience to passengers when there is a flight disruption, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and airlines will have the burden to prove the situation is an exceptional circumstance. One objective of the consultations is to define these exceptions.