Ottawa underestimated pent-up travel demand: MP

CALGARY — A member of Parliament says Ottawa may have underestimated Canadians' desire to travel when planning for a return to normal following the end of most pandemic restrictions.

Airlines and airports have been grappling with a surge in customers this summer, compounded by staffing shortages affecting both carriers and federal agencies.

As a result, travellers have experienced widespread flight cancellations, baggage delays and lengthy lineups, particularly at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

Last month, due to a glitch, the ArriveCan app instructed about 10,200 travellers to quarantine for 10 days when they didn't have to.

Annie Koutrakis, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of transport, told reporters in Calgary on Tuesday that planning for a return to normal fell a bit short.

"We did anticipate. Yes, the planning did start. What we underestimated unfortunately was the desire to which everyone wanted to travel and everyone wanted to travel at the same time," Koutrakis said.

"The data shows us that we were not anticipating everybody to start travelling to the degree that they did. It's not like we were waiting and not planning behind the scenes to be ready for it. It's just more could have been done."

Koutrakis said this is the first time the government has gone through a pandemic like COVID-19 and there are lessons to be learned.

This funding will support projects to improve current and future scheduling and connection times between flights, and will provide access to safe, reliable and efficient air transportation options in Calgary. https://t.co/8YdIyyzabl

— Omar Alghabra (@OmarAlghabra) August 23, 2022

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra was grilled about the delays at a House of Commons committee last week.

Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman asked him if the federal government bears any responsibility and Alghabra replied: "I blame it on COVID." He pointed to labour shortages as the primary contributor to the delays.

Koutrakis said data indicates that abandoning the ArriveCan app would increase delays and bottlenecks and removing the mask mandate would not reduce wait times.

Koutrakis announced nearly $2 million to help the Calgary International Airport improve current and future flight scheduling and connection times between flights, as well as establish dedicated corridors to enable physical distancing.

There were no representatives from any of the airlines at the announcement. But Bob Sartor, the president and CEO of the Calgary Airport Authority, said the carriers are suffering through the same problems in hiring enough staff.

"The reality is, they are facing to a greater extent issues that we face at YYC and that is the need for additional staffing. They did what we did as an airport and they reduced significantly their staffing during the pandemic," Sartor said.

Sartor said recertifying pilots and getting staff security clearances can take months to complete.

"Sometimes it can be two or three months .… There are some things that have to happen, and one of the things is we need to get pilots certified. We need to get more staff like the air carriers do," Sartor said.

"If we ever have one of these Black Swan events — and I pray we do not — we need a consolidated aviation sector restart plan."