Travel News

By  Abdullateef Aliyu

The Lagos State Government (LASG) announcing this yesterday said there will be a diversion around kilometre zero to five near Lagos, lasting for six months.

The federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, has a target of December 2022 for the completion of the 127.6-kilometre-long road project being handled by Julius Berger and RCC. While Julius Berger is handling the Lagos-Shagamu axis, the RCC is in charge of the Shagamu-Ibadan section of the expressway.

The road is one of the critical highways in Nigeria being the major connecting route for the nation’s seaport with the hinterland. Thousands of cargo and petroleum trucks as well as passenger vehicles ply this route daily.

Ahead of the diversion, the Lagos State Government has rolled out traffic diversion plans as the rehabilitation work on the identified axis begins on 9th of June, 2022 while the diversion would last for a duration of six months.

According to the rehabilitation schedule contained in the notification, kilometre zero to five of the Lagos/Shagamu Expressway will be modified for traffic diversion.

He assured that the other lanes on the expressway will be accessible to motorists during the course of the construction.

Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde, affirmed that signage and diversion signs will be installed along the route to guide motorists on movement and to ensure safety, adding that the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority will be on ground to control traffic flow.

The transport commissioner called for patience and understanding as the construction is geared towards a better transportation system and improved economic activity.

LAGOS  – The management of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has been working to fix over 40 years of abandonment and lack of investments in the country’s airports, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, its Managing Director has said. 

Yadudu who was appointed about three years ago as the Chief Executive of the agency, in an interaction with aviation journalists over the weekend, lamented the huge rots in infrastructure in the country’s airports, but assured that the management had been working to improve the system. 

Yadudu explained that one major legacy he would like to live behind is better airport environments for all users. 

In the last three years, FAAN had embarked on major repair of ageing equipment and components from the abandoned runway and airfield lighting at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos and other aerodromes in the country. 

He decried that some of the facilities at most of the airports were last replaced between 1980 and 1985, wondering how such equipment could function till date. 

He said: “Some of the equipment we have are ageing. Some of them are even 40 years and above. As the current management in FAAN, we want to make sure that anybody who comes as the next Managing Director of FAAN, we want to make their job easier. We are going out of our way to make sure we do our own. 

“Now, we are fixing the 18L in Lagos airport. You cannot land on 18L at night; now the contractor is back. He was supposed to finish in March, but the cables he had were of low qualities and we are insisting on original ones. So, he said he will fix it by June or latest July. 

“So, after nine years, we are fixing some of these things that were abandoned and we are also starting new ones, including baggage handling, the central cooling system and others. We contacted the airfield lighting company in Europe to fix the new ones, overhaul the whole airfield lighting system, there was no overhaul in 42 years. That is also in the process. We are fixing things so that those that come after us will get things easier. 

“Within the last three years, we have embarked on major repair of ageing equipment and components. I gave you an example in Lagos; abandoned runway and airfield lighting. Also, the key elements at MMA and any other airports that were old, but now, we are replacing them. Some were last replaced in either 1980 or 1985.” 

KEY POINTS

• Shanghai, which emerged from a two-month lockdown early this month, said Thursday that seven of its 16 districts would conduct mass testing, according to state media. Those areas included financial and downtown districts.
• Since Thursday, at least three districts in Beijing have ordered bars and some other entertainment venues to close until further notice.

People wait in line for nucleic acid tests to detect COVID-19 at a testing site on June 9, 2022, in Beijing, China. China says it has generally controlled recent outbreaks in Beijing after hundreds of people tested positive for the virus in recent weeks. Kevin Frayer | Getty Images News | Getty Images

BEIJING — China’s two largest cities are tightening some Covid measures again, just days after loosening them as the virus appeared under control.

Shanghai, which emerged from a two-month lockdown early this month, said Thursday that seven of its 16 districts would conduct mass testing this weekend, according to state media. Those areas included financial and downtown districts.

During the testing period, residents in affected areas will need to stay home until the testing is over, the city said in the comments section of an official release.

It was not clear to what extent other restrictions on business would be applied during the testing. Implementation of Covid restrictions can also vary by apartment neighborhood. Factories can generally remain in operation if their workers live on-site or otherwise operate in a bubble.

Minhang, one of the seven districts and located near the outskirts of Shanghai, told residents Thursday to stay home during virus testing on Saturday.

Since Thursday, at least three districts in Beijing have ordered bars and some other entertainment venues to close until further notice. After the city reported one new confirmed Covid case for Wednesday, a handful of subsequent cases were tied to bars and nightclubs.

Beijing allowed restaurants on Monday to resume serving customers inside stores, after only permitting takeout or delivery for about a month. The latest outbreak in the capital city began in late April.

Mainland China reported 30 new confirmed Covid cases for Thursday, including 15 in Inner Mongolia, where a small city locked down last week after a few new Covid cases.

Universal Beijing Resort said earlier this week it planned to reopen on June 15 after closing temporarily in early May.

Shanghai Disneyland and Disneytown have been closed since late March. Some Shanghai Disney Resort retail and park areas reopened Friday.

Nigeria’s federal government has declared Monday, June 13 as public holiday to commemorate the 2022 Democracy Day.

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who made the declaration on behalf of the federal government, congratulated Nigerians on the occasion and urged all citizens to support the present administration in its efforts at ensuring a secured, united and prosperous nation.

Aregbesola advised Nigerians to use the occasion to reflect on the long journey the country has made towards the enthronement of a civil democratic order, before national Independence in 1960 till date and the sacrifices of our patriots.

He reminded Nigerians of the challenges, “we have faced and overcome, including a civil war,” adding that any form of agitation that threatens the unity of the country should be shunned for the good of all.

He said Nigeria would be a haven of peace, unity and progress if all citizens love their neighbours and embrace the spirit of brotherliness.

Aregbesola said: “As we mark another Democracy Day in the history of our dear country, let us reflect on the efforts of our founding fathers and ensure that Nigeria remains one united, secured, peaceful and an indivisible entity,” noting that, “no development can take place in an acrimonious environment.”

He added: “With the challenges we face in Nigeria today, I see an opportunity for us not to break up or break down, but to break open; open up to ourselves in truth so that we may appreciate each other, understand each other, honour each other and live together in peace and prosperity.”

The minister advised Nigerians to judiciously put into use the recently unveiled Nigeria Internal Security and Public Safety Alert System (N-Alert) Mobile App designed to mitigate security challenges and other disasters with the slogan, “See Something Do N-Alert”, in the usage of the Mobile App, which has been upgraded to meet with current challenges in the country.

He assured that with the concerted efforts being put in place by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to secure the lives and property of Nigerians and stabilise the economy, the nation would continue to get better.

Aregbesola enjoined Nigerians to keep faith with democracy, saying, “although it might not have brought our best expectations, we should keep at it, knowing that practice makes perfect, and the alternatives are far worse and have proved ruinous and disastrous to the nation, if our recent history is anything to go by.” He said: “There will surely be light at the end of the tunnel.”

(Bloomberg) -- If the UK’s soaring fuel prices aren’t bad enough for consumers, try needing to fill up at a motorway service station.

The pump price for diesel passed £2 ($2.49) a liter for the first time ever on motorway service stations, according to the RAC motoring group. That’s about 6% more than the national average. Petrol also neared £2, feeding into a wider cost-of-living crisis for many.

“Another day and another round of fuel price records,” said Simon Williams, a spokesman for the RAC. 

The advance in fuel prices is part of a wider trend in the UK where the cost of living is rising fast, lifting inflation to multi-decade highs. Beyond the UK, countries such as the US are beginning to see demand destruction in locations where gasoline most expensive. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions against the oil producer have sent oil prices to over $120 a barrel. Diesel prices in Britain have also been boosted by a ban on oil imports from Russia.  

The average cost of of petrol on UK motorways rose to a record of £1.97, according to the group.

The national average gasoline price rose to 183.16 pence per liter, while the diesel average rose to 188.82 pence. Both were up by about half a percent from a day earlier.

Washington (AP) -- The Biden administration is lifting its requirement that international air travelers to the U.S. take a COVID-19 test within a day before boarding their flights, easing one of the last remaining government mandates meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

A senior administration official said the mandate expires Sunday at 12:01 a.m. ET, saying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that it's no longer necessary. The official, speaking Friday on the condition of anonymity to preview the formal announcement, said that the agency would reevaluate the need for the testing requirement every 90 days and that it could be reinstated if a troubling new variant emerges

A deportation flight taking the first asylum seekers to Rwanda next week can go ahead, the High Court has ruled.

They will be the first migrants to be sent to the African country to have their asylum claims processed since the government announced the controversial policy in April.

Around 30 people are scheduled to be on the flight.

A High Court judge refused to grant an injunction brought by human rights campaigners to block the one-way flight scheduled for next Tuesday.

Activists said the government plan was "not safe" and lawyers for nearly 100 migrants submitted legal challenges asking to stay in the UK.

The Home Office argues the policy will deter people from making dangerous illegal Channel crossings from France in flimsy small boats run by smugglers.

Officials believe that the removal plan is in the public interest and it must not be stopped.

The Home Office has said five other people who were due to be deported will not be sent to Rwanda after they had their removal directions cancelled.

Up to 130 people have been notified they could be removed.

Two campaign groups - Detention Action and Care4Calais - joined the PCS Union and four individual asylum seekers bringing legal action against the Home Office.

The court heard the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, has a number of concerns about the asylum process in Rwanda, including discriminatory access to asylum - including for LGBT people - a lack of legal representation and interpreters, and difficulties in appealing.

In the first stage of legal action, brought today, Raza Husain QC, for the claimants, told the High Court: "The system is not safe. It is not that it is not safe after July, it is just not safe.

"You may be arbitrarily denied access to it. If you do get into it, there are concerns about the impartiality of the decision-making."

The court was also told that a second flight may be scheduled for Thursday, something the Home Office denied.

The High Court is due to hear a further challenge to the policy on Monday, brought by refugee charity Asylum Aid and supported by fellow campaign group Freedom From Torture.

• Travelers pay top dollar as flight routes, frequencies curbed
• Higher jet fuel costs exacerbating airline industry woes

For more than two years, the main topic of conversation pretty much everywhere has been about the impact of Covid-19. Now that the worst of the pandemic seems to be over and people are traveling more freely again, another hot topic is on the tips of everyone’s tongues: expensive plane tickets. 

People are looking for flights -- sometimes their first in years -- in a rush of what’s been termed “revenge travel.” Internet searches show sky-high airfares for many routes, yet travelers with wanderlust are opting to stomach the higher costs after being grounded for so long.

“The demand is off the charts,” Delta Air Lines Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said at an industry conference last week, noting that fares this summer may be 30% higher than pre-pandemic levels. “It’s coming with leisure, it’s coming with premium customers, it’s coming with business, it’s coming with international. It doesn’t matter what the category is.”

Global Movement

The trend is across geographies, though some places are more squeezed than others. Searches for a return economy-class ticket between Hong Kong and London on Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. in late June turn up prices as high as HK$42,051 ($5,360), which is more than five times the typical cost before the pandemic. Direct flights between New York and London around the same time cost more than $2,000 in economy. 

“Ticket prices are really expensive these days,” said Jacqueline Khoo, who works in tourism. Her company paid S$5,000 ($3632) for a colleague’s return trip with Singapore Airlines Ltd. to Hamburg later this month. That used to cost about S$2,000, she said. “It’s really amazing that an economy seat ticket would cost you so much.” 

A Mastercard Economics Institute study found the cost of flying from Singapore was on average 27% higher in April than in 2019, while flights from Australia were 20% more. Increasingly, travelers are booking tickets months in advance as they’re worried about the cost of buying at the last minute, said David Mann, chief economist for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at the institute.  

There are several reasons for the higher fares, not all of which are within the control of airlines. 

Giant Jets Parked 

Carriers are cautious about bringing back all their idled jets, even though most countries have eased cross-border restrictions. That’s particularly true for giant aircraft like Airbus SE’s A380 superjumbos and Boeing Co.’s older 747-8s, as airlines turn to more fuel-efficient models like A350s and 787 Dreamliners. The pinch is most acute in Asia, which was the slowest to ease restrictions, and as China, the biggest market in the region, remains essentially closed. 

After navigating varied and changing government policies for the past two years, it will take time for airlines to rebuild fleets given that many restrictions only eased in May, said Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. “It’s still early days,” he said. “We’re just in June, so it’s not like turning on the tap.”  

Carriers also scaled down their networks during Covid, none more so than Cathay, which has been hemmed in by Hong Kong’s onerous travel and quarantine rules. That’s left people considering lengthy journeys with one or more stopovers, whereas before they might have flown direct. British Airways Plc doesn’t even fly to Hong Kong at the moment. 

With fewer planes in the skies, there are fewer seats to meet the recovery in demand, which in turn has pushed up fares.

Skyrocketing Fuel Prices

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a steady rise in crude oil prices over the past 18 months. Jet fuel now represents as much as 38% of an average airline’s costs, up from 27% in the years leading to 2019. For some budget airlines, it can be as high as 50%.

Why are flight ticket prices so high right now? Here's what Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong had to say. Set a reminder to watch the full interview on @BloombergTV: https://t.co/fH6I1k9s4O pic.twitter.com/w9ynS9zPgd — Bloomberg (@business) June 3, 2022

Spot jet fuel prices in New York have soared more than 80% this year, though prices vary from region to region depending on refining costs and local taxes. Many US carriers have been able to cover the increased fuel costs so far -- but only by passing them along to travelers in the form of higher fares.

Some investors believe airlines may seek to boost fuel surcharges as a way to cope, analysts at Citigroup Inc. said in March. Most of Asia’s airlines don’t hedge jet fuel, which means they are more vulnerable to price increases. 

Deep-Pocketed Travelers 

Higher ticket costs don’t seem to be dissuading people from making trips now that many travel restrictions have eased. Some consumers are tapping dormant holiday budgets and upgrading to more expensive aircraft cabins for leisure trips, the International Air Transport Association’s Director General Willie Walsh said last month. 

The so-called revenge traveler is “an individual that has been emotionally affected by the lockdowns and has craved travel over the last two years and they’ve dreamt about it,” said Hermione Joye, sector lead for travel in Asia Pacific at Alphabet Inc.’s Google. “They are very spontaneous.”

Lack of Staff

Hundreds of thousands of pilots, flight attendants, ground handlers and other aviation workers lost their jobs over the past couple of years. With travel picking up, the industry now finds itself unable to hire fast enough to allow for seamless operations at its pre-pandemic levels. 

Singapore’s Changi Airport -- regularly voted the world’s best -- is looking to recruit more than 6,600 people. Many workers who were let go have found other, less volatile careers, and aren’t willing to come back to a cyclical industry. An operator at Changi is offering a joining bonus of S$25,000 to auxiliary police officers, a job that pays a maximum of S$3,700 a month.

In the US, smaller regional airlines can’t fly at full capacity because bigger carriers have hired away too many pilots. Hundreds of flights have been canceled in the UK, scuppering holiday plans and leading to long delays and scenes of passengers sleeping at airports. In Europe, major airports have faced delays and cancellations after failing to hire adequate staff. That has disrupted airline schedules and added to costs. 

Repairing Balance Sheets 

Aviation is a capital-intensive industry with historically wafer-thin margins. Covid has made that operating climate even more challenging: globally, airlines lost more than $200 billion in the three years to 2022. 

Elevated fares provide carriers with a path to recover from losses and return to the black.

“We’ve never seen a revenue environment like this, led by domestic leisure,” American Airlines Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robert Isom said at an industry conference last week. “On top of that, we see large corporates coming back in. Small- and medium-sized businesses have been really off the charts for a number of months now.”

How Much Longer? 

It’s unclear how long these high prices will persist, even as many travelers seem willing to pay up.

“The rise in prices is a short-term phenomenon,” estimates Stephen Tracy, chief operating officer at Milieu Insight, a Singapore-based consumer insight and analytics firm. “Let’s all just hope that once these things equalize again, the prices come back down. I am fairly confident that they will.” 

In a few cases, fares are actually lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to Michael O’Leary, chief executive officer of Ryanair Holdings Plc. While there’s a prospect of more fares returning to levels they were at before Covid, the war in Ukraine and virus outbreaks are still risks, he said. 

— With assistance by Kyunghee Park, Mary Schlangenstein, Justin Bachman, and Danny Lee

"Pearson airport is hell on earth."

So declared Ryan Whitney, a former NHLer, in a social media post from Toronto’s main airport this week.

The one-time Edmonton Oilers defenceman laid bare his exasperation after undergoing a gauntlet of lines, delays, cancellations, and rebookings during an Air Canada stopover at Canada’s busiest travel hub. He said he landed at Pearson at 3 p.m. on Sunday and didn’t take off for Boston until 1 p.m. the next day.

"I am so in shock at this place. It is the biggest disgrace known to man," he told his 414,300 Twitter followers in a selfie video from the gate.

"I’m gonna have a viral meltdown."

Scenes of endless security and customs queues at large Canadian airports — and Pearson in particular — have played out all spring, with peak travel season weeks away. While the federal government has pledged to cancel random COVID-19 testing at customs and hire hundreds more customs and security screening officers, hurdles ranging from staffing shortages to tarmac delays threaten to cascade into a problem that overmatches efforts to drain clogged terminals.

"I think it's just going to get worse," former Air Canada chief operating officer Duncan Dee said in an interview.

"The only thing consistent that's happened at Canadian airports for two months now is there have been delays."

Nearly half a million passengers were held up after arriving on international flights at Pearson airport last month. Some 490,810 travellers, or about half of all arrivals from abroad, faced delays as they sat on the tarmac or faced staggered off-loading to ease pressure on overflowing customs areas, according to figures provided by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.

In total, some 2,700 flights arriving from outside the country were delayed at Pearson last month, versus four planes — and a few hundred passengers — in May 2019.

And passenger volume is only likely to increase, with the summer holidays about to kick off and the United States announcing Friday it will drop COVID-19 testing requirements for inbound air travellers from abroad starting Sunday.

On Friday, the federal government announced it would suspend randomized COVID-19 tests of vaccinated passengers starting Saturday until at least June 30. The move walks back a previous vow to maintain testing at airport customs until that date and accedes to demands from the industry, which hoped to process travellers more swiftly.

The announcement came hours after chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said randomized testing serves as "an early warning system" that detects new variants as they filter into the country and indicates global trends such as infection rates abroad.

Three in 100 tests remain positive, she said.

Passenger numbers still trail pre-pandemic levels, but Canadians' travel spending — on airline, travel agency and car rental bookings — have topped 2019 levels since mid-March, RBC chief economist Craig Wright said in a research note Tuesday.

Airlines are not configured to deal with the ensuing hours-long security and customs delays, Dee said.

"That crew that was scheduled to operate your flight? They’re out of duty time because the flight they operated this morning was held off gate for two hours," he wrote on Twitter, referring to regulatory limits on hours worked by flight crews within one-day and four-week periods.

"That aircraft that was scheduled to operate your morning flight? Sorry, it missed its scheduled maintenance last night because it couldn’t offload its passengers on time because the customs hall was full."

Meanwhile a flight missed due to a long security queue or delayed connecting flight may take six hours to rebook — as in Whitney's case — since agents slated to cover the customer service counter are still working to board passengers on a different delayed plane. Similar snags confront baggage handlers.

"It just cascades," said Helane Becker, an analyst for banking firm Cowen, citing a lack of predictability.

"The watchword for the summer is patience."

Between June 1 and June 9, Air Canada cancelled nine per cent of its scheduled flights at Pearson, according to flight data firm Cirium. The scrapped flights were evenly split between arrivals and departures.

"These days, airlines are facing the double whammy of a shortage of pilots, flight attendants and ground handlers and then lumpy demand on their network," said Cirium spokesman Mike Arnot.

"Some planes are full, and some are not." Partially booked flights may be nixed in order to funnel passengers onto other planes and boost efficiency.

Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, was bound for Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. for work on Thursday, but wound up waiting on the Pearson tarmac pre-takeoff for four hours after a delayed boarding due to a dearth of flight attendants.

"And then they said they had a flight attendant, but now they didn't have a pilot, so they were flying in a pilot from Montreal," she said.

After disembarking from the first Air Canada plane, she sat on a second one for two more hours.

"It was very frustrating."

Ottawa has said the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) will have 400 more personnel deployed at airports by month's end.

But the hiring process takes time, with clearance from one of CATSA's three subcontractors and an RCMP criminal background check required, on top of clearance from the local airport authority and Transport Canada.

There are also different levels of security clearance, with a "relaxed" clearance allowing the agent to check boarding passes and a tougher-to-obtain full clearance permitting actual screening of luggage, said Teamsters Canada spokeswoman Catherine Cosgrove, who represents about 1,000 airport screeners.

An additional transborder security clearance makes it harder to staff checkpoints on international flights, adding to their typically longer wait times.

“It’s like rewiring a house while still living in it," she said. "It’s going to take months to a year."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)

— With files from Marie Woolf in Ottawa

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

After more than two years, Canadian travel demand has finally returned – and with that has come long lines and delays at some of the busiest airports in the country. Many travellers, particularly those at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, are facing long lines at security and customs, and some international passengers are waiting for hours on the tarmac due to delays. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the government is working on reducing wait times at Canadian airports, hiring hundreds of new agents for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) and creating a task force to address the bottlenecks.

On this episode of Editor’s Edition, Yahoo Finance Canada’s Alicja Siekierska and the Public Policy Forum’s Sean Speer discuss what impact the situation at Canadian airport could have on travel and tourism in the country. "At this stage, there is a threat of a kind of brand erosion for Canada as a travel destination and for Canadian airlines as a means of travelling internationally," Speer said.

If you have any policy-related questions, or feedback about the show, please email [email protected].

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

SEAN SPEER: I would just say this, Alicja. I think that at this stage, there is a threat of a kind of brand erosion for Canada as a travel destination and for Canadian airlines as a means to traveling internationally. And in recent days, a high-profile podcaster has posted about his experience at Pearson.

Last I saw, Alicja, that video had something like 4 or 5 million views. And so if you're thinking about where to travel this summer or how to travel, I think people will be inclined to stay away from Pearson in general and Burnie in particular and Canada in general and to stay away from Air Canada, not just because of the delays but because, I think, a perception that the company has not handled it very well.

I have enormous sympathy for people who are going through these experiences at Pearson airport and dealing with Air Canada in these circumstances. Imagine having young children and being stuck in lines for hours and hours and missing flights and having to make new arrangements. So I guess the net effect is that, while the government and the different airlines are pointing fingers at one another, the one thing that they have fundamentally in common is it's in both their interest to solve these issues and protect people's perceptions of Canada as a destination and our airlines as a means of transportation, or both will suffer greatly.

ALICJA SIEKIERSKA: I think you've already seen business groups and leaders kind of raising the alarm on that front and the impact that this could have on tourism. It was Janet De Silva, who's president and CEO of the Toronto Regional Board of Trade was in particular flagging this at a press conference last month, saying that we must demonstrate to potential visitors, especially our business visitors, that they can travel easily and without undue challenges to our region. We need to make this a good experience. We are painfully and inexcusably behind in Toronto.

So it's clearly a concern that's not just an inconvenience for travelers but potentially for businesses and the greater community here in Ontario and obviously in cities across the country. So what needs to be done here? What should the government and different stakeholders here be doing to fix this?

SEAN SPEER: I mean, in no particular order, I think probably eliminating some of these ongoing restrictions, including the use of the AirCan app seems like low hanging fruit too. Moving ahead with more staffing at CASA to try to get people through security lines faster.

I think customs staff is a big piece of the puzzle, because the waits just aren't at security proper. They're at customs and basically all the way through the process. And then it seems to me, the crucial part is Air Canada needs to make sure that its customer service capacity is greater and that the people who are on the front lines are showing a degree of empathy.

I mentioned the experience of Ryan Whitney, this former hockey player who's now a podcaster. He talked about his experience at Pearson when he was there for something like 20 hours in the past few days. The most infuriating part was he just kept getting shifted around by different Air Canada desks after sitting and standing in line for hours and hours.

So even if the airlines ultimately think the government is responsible, I think there's still an onus and a kind of self-interest on their part to make sure that they're not exacerbating the problem by providing really poor-quality customer service. So I think there's kind of a pox on everyone's house and a need for everyone to do their part to try to solve for these issues before they create kind of lasting damage for the country and for these airlines.