A string of flight delays and cancellations has prompted the federal government to allocate $75.9 million in funding to Canada’s air travel sector in order to help clear a complaints backlog.
The Ministry of Transportation announced Tuesday that the funding will be released over the course of the next three years to the Canadian Transportation Agency in order to boost its resources, such as additional hires, that will be needed to handle traveller complaints and compensations.
The agency is currently working through 42,000 passenger complaints and looking to hire more than 200 employees to deal with the backlog, the Canadian Press reported.
“Travellers have rights, and these rights must be respected by airlines. When airlines do not provide the reimbursement or compensation to which travellers are entitled, the Canadian Transportation Agency is there to ensure passenger rights are respected,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a press release.
The funding will play a key role in furthering the 2019 Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) mandate to handle traveller complaints in situations that are within and at times outside of an airline’s control, including major weather delays or a pandemic.
