Supreme Court will hear airlines' challenge of federal passenger protection rules

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear an appeal on a case concerning the scope of Canada's protections for air travellers, including rules for compensating passengersfor cancelled or delayed flights and lost baggage.

In 2020, the International Air Transportation Association, Air Canada, Porter Airlines and several foreign carriersfiled a civil suit with the Federal Court of Appeal challenging a number ofCanadian Transportation Agency (CTA) regulations.

The regulations, which the federal government directed the agency to create between 2018 and 2019, imposeobligations on airlines in cases of flight delays, cancellations, boarding denial and lost or damaged luggage.

The regulationsrequire that airlines explain to passengersthe reasons for flight delays and cancellationsand provide certain free services such as food and drink and access to washroomsif a flight is delayed on the tarmac and the disruption is within the airline's control.

The appellants arguethe regulations overstepthe CTA's authority under the Canada Transportation Actand contradictinternational lawparticularly the Montreal Convention, a treaty on airline liabilityCanada signed in 2002.

The Federal Court unanimously dismissed the appeal in 2022but agreed that a CTA regulation on compensation fordelayed baggagewent beyond the agency's authority.

The SupremeCourtannounced its decision to hear the case in a news release Thursday.

In response to widespread flight delays,cancellations and passenger complaints last year, the federal governmentput forward a series of amendments which wouldincrease the fines airlines could face for violations. The government saidthe amendmentsalso would close loopholes airlines have used to avoid compensatingcustomers.

The amendments passed as part of the government's budget bill. TheCTAthen soughtpublic inputon the regulations it will need to create in order for the changes to go into effect. Those consultations closed on Aug,10and the agency is now analyzing the feedback before bringing forward the regulations.

The CTA is a quasi-judicial body which operates independently of government. It oversees a wide range of mattersconcerningair, rail and marine travel in Canada.

The agency had a complaints backlog of approximately 52,000 as of July 2023 three times the number it had a year before. In March 2023, the federal government announced $75.9 million in new CTA funding over three years to reduce that backlog.

Opposition parties have called on the Liberal government to adopt stronger passenger protections and take a tougher stance with airlines.NDPtransport critic Taylor Bachrachhas called on the government to createa "passenger bill of rights" similar to the one intheEuropean Union, and argued that the government's proposed regulatory changes do not go far enough.