Airline execs, transport minister to be grilled by MPs over travel chaos: what to expect – National | 24CA News
Canada’s transport minister and executives of the nation’s main airways, together with Sunwing, will face questioning from lawmakers on Thursday over the chaos confronted by travellers over the winter holidays.
The House of Commons Transport, Infrastructure and Communities committee is probing the prolonged journey delays and the therapy of 1000’s of air and rail passengers who confronted cancellations and rescheduled journeys.
Although extreme storms throughout the nation had been a significant factor, the committee is trying into how the air and rail industries may higher put together for worsening winter situations and enhance their buyer relations companies, and whether or not the federal government is correctly defending travellers who face interruptions to their plans.
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From 10:30 a.m. to midday ET on Thursday, executives with Air Canada, WestJet and Sunwing will seem.
They embrace Kevin O’Connor, vice-president of system operations management with Air Canada, and David Rheault, vice-president of presidency and group relations at Air Canada; Andrew Gibbons, vice-president of exterior affairs with WestJet, and Scott Wilson, vice-president of flight operations at Westjet; and Len Corrado, president of Sunwing, and Andrew Dawson, president of tour operations at Sunwing Travel Group.
After the executives testify, officers with Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver’s airport authorities will seem from midday to 1:30 p.m. ET.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and transport division officers will testify from 2:30 to three:30 p.m. ET. More division officers and members of the Canadian Transportation Agency will then communicate from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. ET.
The assembly will probably be televised by parliamentary companies for Canadians to look at stay.
Thursday’s assembly was scheduled after committee members unanimously voted Monday to listen to from Alghabra and business executives.
During Monday’s assembly, the transportation committee additionally agreed to listen to from VIA Rail. No officers from that group had been listed as showing on Thursday. Committee conferences past Thursday weren’t instantly scheduled.
The committee’s movement on Monday additionally indicated members need to hear instantly from Canadians who had been impacted by the delays.
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Last week, Corrado and Dawson apologized to clients in a joint assertion for Sunwing’s function in vacation journey delays. Hundreds of Canadians had been stranded in Mexico and different sunny locations over the vacations when Sunwing cancelled flights resulting from a serious winter storm.
Passengers described being shuffled between lodges, typically arriving to search out there have been no rooms booked for them. The stranded Canadians stated Sunwing officers additionally handed alongside inaccurate and incomplete details about after they would possibly have the ability to head residence.
“We regret that we did not meet the level of service our customers expect from Sunwing,” Corrado and Dawson stated within the joint assertion.
“We had clear failures in execution, particularly in responding to weather-related delays and the aftermath of severe weather disruptions, which limited our ability to reposition aircraft and crew to other airports to help alleviate the backlog in flights.”
VIA Rail apologized to its clients on Tuesday for its service throughout the vacation storm, and stated it might be launching an exterior assessment of its efficiency over the season.
VIA Rail left passengers within the lurch as the large winter storm prompted cancellations and delays all through the Christmas weekend.
Passengers already on board a VIA Rail prepare turned caught in a single day close to Kingston, Ont., after a prepare derailed, forcing them to spend practically 21 hours on the prepare with minimal meals and water.
In an unique interview with Global News final week, Alghabra stated he would testify earlier than the committee on the journey disruptions if requested.
— with information from Global’s Aaron D’Andrea and Saba Aziz
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
