Airlines in Canada’s North Want Pilots to Work Longer Days

A group of 18 small Canadian airlines, most of them operating in the country’s vast northern wilderness, are asking for an exemption to crew rest rules that would allow pilots to work longer duty days and more hours each month to allow for the unique challenges of their jobs. The airlines have filed a joint application to permit their pilots to spend 14 hours on duty instead of the currently mandated 13 hours and to allow a weekly limit of 70 hours instead of 60. The existing limits were adopted in 2020 over protests from many carriers and the issues they predicted at the time are being borne out they say.

“It was a one-size-fits-all for everyone, and that can’t be the way it works,” Bernard Gervais, executive director of the Northern Air Transportation Association told the CBC. “What we’re asking is for the rules to be applied according to the size of the operator and the operations they carry out.” The extra hour would reduce flight cancellations which can be critically important for those who live in the far-flung communities served by the airlines. “In the case of remote communities, if those interruptions turn into flight cancellations rather than delays, there is a real impact,” said Joe Sparling, president of Yukon-based Air North.”If you have a medical travel passenger that’s going south for an appointment and the plane doesn’t get in and misses by a day, then their appointment has to be rescheduled.”

The leader of the Canadian section of the Air Line Pilots Association said granting the exemptions would set a precedent that would prompt more carriers to apply for similar treatment. Capt. Tim Perry said the exemptions are “potentially very unsafe” and the union is fighting them. The issue is being considered at the highest levels in the Canadian government and it’s expected that Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon will make the final call.

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