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Government and air sector meet to discuss summer mistakes ahead of winter travel

OTTAWA — Canada’s Transport Minister Omar Alghabra met with members of the air transport sector to discuss measures to modernize and digitize the industry and to learn from the mistakes that led to major travel disruptions this summer.

Alghabra, alongside minister Randy Boissonnault and parliamentary secretary Annie Koutrakis, led a national summit on the recovery of the air sector Thursday to discuss improvements to Canada’s air transportation, including transparency, accountability and passenger rights.

Alghabra says that after the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, last summer the air industry faced a new crisis of congestion and delays.

He says government officials and air transport actors discussed plans to improve ahead of the winter travel surge including modernizing the security screening process and digitizing the sharing of information.

Over the summer, high traveller volumes and inadequate staffing levels contributed to lost baggage and flight disruptions, and Toronto’s Pearson Airport had the world’s worst record of delayed flights.

A spokeswoman for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Tori Gass, says has worked closely with airline and government partners and Pearson has seen significant improvements since the summer.

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., 2021