Transport committee  The answer is yes. Frankly, it's not airlines saying that. It's small airports from around the country. The four Atlantic premiers recently sent a letter to the minister outlining their concerns with what has been proposed on that. It's a number of stakeholders.

Transport committee  I would refer to some of the recommendations I made in my notes, but to your particular question regarding regional and remote communities, which I know your riding is very emblematic of, I would say two things. One, I would go back to the point that Mr. Strahl and I were just discussing.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the invitation to appear once again. First, I want to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples. NACC, as you know, represents Canada's largest passenger airlines: Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Aviation and WestJet.

Transport committee  First of all, on the question about the satisfaction and that that should be the main indicator, it's without question. Being able to get from point A to point B safely and efficiently should be, by far, the main objective—and it is for airlines. Have there been disruptions? There is no question.

Transport committee  When we speak to our international counterparts about how we can best simplify, how we can better improve, the travel experience in Canada, they always come back to putting in place a stronger aviation system overall. They refer to the fees paid in Canada, which are significantly higher than those paid in Europe or the United States.

Transport committee  Yes. By the way, it was very nice to have met you as well. Our recommendations regarding the shared accountability model are not meant to be punitive. I think we would still need to have conversation, consultation and engagement with all of the players, first of all to define what that framework would look like and, second, to define how those metrics and how those sorts of accountability standards could be enforced.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before answering that, I also want to acknowledge the workforce of all of the airlines in the country. They have done exceptional work in the most incredibly difficult circumstances. I just want to thank you for acknowledging that. I can't speak to the particulars of any specific incident.

Transport committee  Mr. Lewis, I would have to verify that with the regulators to be clear on that. The 48 hours is the maximum time provided for in the regulations. The vast majority of the cases are nowhere near that. We talked about the fantastic work that airline crews have been doing over the past two years.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. It's a good question and one we've thought about. When the minister of the day first introduced APPR, he made very clear that the framework was meant to be very fair and balanced. There is a certain balance required. In Canada, unlike the EU of course, we have a very unique Canadian institution, the CTA, that adjudicates complaints.

Transport committee  What you will receive is the same service from airlines to ensure that you will ultimately get to where you want to go, which of course is the purpose of the flight.

Transport committee  Airlines do not always divulge their practices, so we can't confirm that. What I can confirm for you—to go onto a slightly different tangent, because this was discussed at the prior session—is that when you talk about the CTA complaint process, as we said, 97% are addressed through facilitation.

Transport committee  As another example, let's say your flight is delayed or cancelled. You were coming to Ottawa, but another person on that same flight was going to Winnipeg, for example. Part of the APPR, part of the good customer service that airlines will do, is work with the individual passenger to accommodate.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. I've been in the role for only a month, so I hope that at some point, I can get my frequent flyer card from this committee. What we said earlier in terms of the best way to address the APPR framework is to ensure that we can minimize the number of people who have to use it in the first place.

Transport committee  Yes. I have two very quick points. The first is on your point about safety. To be clear, safety, as you can imagine, is non-negotiable for airlines. That is an absolute line that will not be crossed in any way, shape or form. Of course, safety is, in part, regulatory. There are dozens and dozens of safety regulations and they are, in part, the call of pilots, which is how it should be, given certain circumstances.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am the president of the National Airlines Council of Canada. Unfortunately, my colleague Suzanne Acton-Gervais is unable to join us today. For those of you who don't know, NACC represents Canada’s largest passenger airlines, including Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Aviation and WestJet.