Hearing to look at dispute between airport, Transat
Canadian Transportation Agency seeks full story of two stranded planes
Air Transat is laying blame on “numerous other parties” — including the Ottawa airport — for an incident last week that left two flights full of passengers stranded on the tarmac for hours.
It’s the latest blame tossing between the airline and the airport following the misadventure in the capital, which has become a flashpoint in the debate over passengers’ rights.
It came Wednesday, as the Canadian Transportation Agency announced it will be holding a public hearing at the end of this month in an attempt to sort out the matter, which has gained national attention.
Two Air Transat flights, one from Rome and the other from Brussels, were among 20 flights diverted to the Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier airport on July 31 because of severe weather.
Passengers were stranded aboard the parked planes for hours. Finally, around 9 p.m., several frustrated passengers on the Brussels flight called 911.
In a sharply worded letter to the Canadian Transportation Agency dated Aug. 4, made public for the first time Wednesday, the president of Air Transat says “numerous other parties” were at fault for the delays.
The letter, signed by Jean-François Lemay, said the agency needs to seek answers how the airport and its service providers acted. Lemay suggested the diverted flights were redirected from the taxiway to a remote northern section of the airport and that other carriers got priority when it came to refuelling.
“Indeed it should be noted that aircraft of all other airlines were allowed to remain on the taxiway in question and were all refuelled before Air Transat’s flights,” said Lemay in the letter, adding that standard first-come-first-served operating practices for fuelling were not followed. The crews of both aircraft requested refuelling while they were waiting on the runway, but were told this was not possible, he said.
“Shortly after, our personnel witnessed a diverted Air Canada wide-body aircraft parked on the runway behind them being refuelled.” The letter also noted that other airlines, including Air Canada/Rouge, WestJet, Air France, Emirates and KLM were able to refuel and depart.
In a statement released Wednesday in response, the Ottawa Airport Authority said third-party ground handling firms manage aircraft affairs at airports, including aircraft marshaling, baggage handling and check-in/gate services, except in cases where the airlines’ own employees handle these tasks. The airport authority offered its full support and assistance to Air Transat via the designated ground handler, as it did with all airlines that were affected that evening, the statement said.
“Many options were available to the airline at all times while the aircraft were on the apron, had they wished to deplane. The airport had buses on standby on the airfield to shuttle passengers to the terminal and there were gates available for deplaning. Our staff was on the ground to spread these messages and ensure all parties involved were aware of the facilities and assistance available,” said the airport authority.
As a seasonal charter service provider from Ottawa, Air Transat would have an arrangement with a ground handling firm, and would be responsible for determining the level of service provided by their contractor, said the airport authority.
“This arrangement would extend to arranging refuelling service and providing all airside equipment necessary to fulfil contractual obligations, as determined in the contract. The contractual relationship between the ground handler and the airline rests between both parties and not with the airport authority. The role of the airport authority is to ensure that ground handlers operate in a safe and secure manner.”
Airlines set the standard of service, including during irregular air operations such as occurred on July 31, the airport authority said.
“The airport does not determine the priority of refuelling activity. This is determined by the airlines who request refuelling through their ground handlers. We have been advised that refuelling is typically done on a first-comefirst-served basis unless special circumstances dictate that an aircraft receive priority. Again, this is done without airport involvement and is typically arranged by the airline directly or through its ground handler. At no time did the Air Transat crew or its ground handler request fuelling assistance or a gate from the Airport Authority.”
The Air Transat letter said flight crews were in regular communication with local authorized fuelers, but were not informed about how long the entire refuelling operation would take, which did not allow an informed decision about how to managed the situation.
There was a “creeping delay” even after urgent requests for refuelling, it said. The Air Transat crews were led to believe that their aircraft would be refuelled within the next 30 minutes, and the cycle repeated itself several times, Lemay said.
Obligations must be placed on airports and their service providers as well as carriers, he said.
“Indeed, as we have clearly seen in this case, the tendency is to focus solely on the actions of the airline.”
Passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs said it’s his opinion the airport is not at fault, and that talk about refuelling is just confusing the issue.
“Where is the record of any attempt bring the aircraft to a gate?” he said. “They didn’t provide any evidence about efforts to disembark passengers.”
The minister of transport also waded in Wednesday, saying he was pleased the Canadian Transportation Agency is holding hearings to “shed light” on what happened.
“As a frequent traveller, I can imagine how difficult the situation must have been in those conditions after a long transatlantic flight,” said Marc Garneau, a former astronaut, who pointed to Bill C-49, legislation introduced in May that aims to create rules to strengthen air passenger rights, including establishing clear and fair standards for how passengers are to be treated, such as cases of long delays on the tarmac, overbooking, delays, cancellations and lost or damaged baggage.
Lukacs said there are ways of finding out what happened, such as records of radio messages. But he is concerned about who will represent passenger interests at the hearing.
“There were tourists from Belgium. And what about the people from Montreal? How are they going to come to Ottawa to be witnesses? The airport will lawyer up, Air Transat will lawyer up. But what about the interests of the passengers?
“Questions won’t be answered because actual victims can’t crossexamine witnesses.”