The Canadian Transportation Agency has ordered Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet to implement a one-person-one-fare policy for persons with severe disabilities on flights within Canada.
The three airlines have one year to implement the policy, which applies to domestic air services. It does not apply to domestic segments of transborder and international trips.
The Agency’s Decision No. 6-AT-A-2008 means that the airlines may not charge more than one fare to persons with disabilities who are required by the airlines’ domestic tariffs to be accompanied by an attendant for their personal care or safety on flights, or who require additional seating for themselves for air travel, including those disabled by obesity.
The Decision does NOT apply to: Persons with disabilities or others who prefer to travel with a companion for personal reasons;
Persons with disabilities who require a personal care attendant at destination, but not in-flight; Persons who are obese but not disabled by their obesity.
The Agency estimates that 80,600 persons with disabilities who travel by air will be eligible to benefit from the policy based on the Decision, which for purposes of domestic travel represents 0.32per cent of the domestic air passenger traffic carried by Air Canada and WestJet.
Based on evidence from all parties involved and expert witnesses, the Agency concluded that implementation of a one-person-one-fare policy works out to an estimated annual cost, based on 2005 data, of $7.1 million for Air Canada and $1.5 million for WestJet. This represents 0.09 per cent of Air Canada’s passenger revenues of $8.2 billion and 0.16 per cent of WestJet’s equivalent revenues of $1.4 billion.
This is equivalent to a revenue loss for Air Canada of 41 cents per trip across its 17.1 million domestic trips and 16 cents for WestJet across its 9.1 million domestic trips.
Considering the response of the carriers’ “yield management systems” to the policy, the Agency estimates the price of the average domestic Air Canada fare may increase by 77 cents and by 44cents for the average WestJet fare.
Three longstanding principles cited as particularly relevant to this Decision are the right of persons with disabilities: to full participation in all aspects of society and equal access to transportation; to suffer no economic disadvantage or pay more for their transportation services than other passengers; to treatment in the same manner regardless of the underlying reason for their disability.
The Decision flows from the Agency’s legislative mandate to remove “undue obstacles” to the mobility of persons with disabilities and it is consistent with the recent Supreme Court of Canada direction to the Agency to apply the same human rights test as is applied under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
The January 13, 2006 Federal Court of Appeal decision in Linda McKay-Panos v. Air Canada confirmed that a person who is obese may be disabled for purposes of air travel if unable to fit in an airline seat.
In today’s Decision, the Agency has determined that only a small group of obese domestic air travellers, only those who are severely obese, would be eligible under a one-person-one-fare policy.
The Agency has also determined that eligibility for the policy must be assessed by the air carriers on a case-by-case basis.
The Gander International Airport Authority was also a respondent in the case. The Agency concluded that the Gander Airport Authority also failed to produce evidence to demonstrate that implementation of a one-person-one-fare policy will impose undue hardship on it. Accordingly, the authority was ordered not to charge its airport improvement fee, currently $20, for attendants.
Leave a Reply