Passenger rights overhaul will barely dent bottom line, Air Canada says

MONTREAL –

Air Canada says the country’s passenger rights overhaul will hardly hurt its bottom line.

On a call with analysts Monday, chief financial officer John Di Bert said the financial impact of the reforms will be “incremental.”

He says the full impact of the updated rights charter will become more apparent in 2024, noting there would be some added pressure.

In April, the federal government announced sweeping reforms to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, with the specifics now being hashed out by Canada’s transport regulator.

The changes appear to scrap a loophole through which airlines have denied customers compensation for flight delays or cancellations when they were required for safety purposes.

The new rules also ratchet up the maximum penalty for airline violations to $250,000 — a tenfold increase — and put the regulatory cost of complaints on carriers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2023.