CATCA (Canadian Air Traffic Controllers Association) President Nick von Schoenberg has expressed frustration over a lack of transparency regarding a UN agency audit, revealing Canada's significant decline in air travel oversight.
The National Post reports that Schoenberg said, "Neither the federal government nor Nav Canada has shared the report by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in which Canada's score had reportedly fallen by over 30 points, out of a total score of 100." A scoring that puts Canada under the international average for oversight and inspections.
As Open Jaw reported on 08DEC, a confidential ICAO report obtained by The Canadian Press revealed Canada received a C on flight safety oversight — down from an A+ almost two decades ago and far below most of its peers.
While neither ICAO nor the government released the report publicly, some media outlets obtained draft copies in December.
Von Schoenberg advocates for increased hiring of aviation inspectors, citing recruitment challenges, staff overload and shortages within his union.
Canada's aviation oversight score was at a sterling 95 out of 100 in 2005. But CP said the latest ICAO rating for Canada gave the country a score of just 64. The organization said three areas of safety oversight, in particular, have seen a major drop-off: Aircraft operations, airports, and air navigation.
Following the report, Transport Canada responded with an aviation safety announcement outlining its safety programs.
While Von Schoenberg stands by Canada's aviation industry as one of the safest globally, "I think what the audit shows is we can't demonstrate that we're safe, we don't have the processes in place to ensure that we're safe. And that's a very different thing from saying we're unsafe," he said in an interview.
The Ottawa Citizen reports that short-staffing for air traffic controllers has worsened significantly in recent years, according to Von Schoenberg, with airports struggling to staff towers appropriately using overtime while avoiding exhausting controllers. He said there was currently a shortfall of roughly 300 workers nationwide.
"We've functioned at a minimal staffing level for a long, long time," he said. "When we got into the pandemic, things got real, and they had to lay off trainees… and now given the way training works, you can't just ramp it up and recover in a hurry."
"It's going to take a long time to dig ourselves out of that hole. So, things have gotten worse," he added.
In response to the draft report, Air Canada and WestJet issued statements emphasizing the report was not an audit of the safe operation of Canadian aircraft.
Both airlines expressed confidence in their safety measures, saying The Transportation Safety Board of Canada reported a 43% decrease in air transportation accidents last year.
