Ottawa is moving to sharply increase penalties against airlines that repeatedly break Canada’s air passenger rights rules, raising the maximum fine from $250,000 to $1 million as the federal government faces mounting pressure over a massive complaints backlog.
Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon announced the change Friday, saying the tougher penalty will apply to repeated violations of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, known as APPR. The rules came into force in 2019 and require airlines to compensate travellers for delays or cancellations within the airline’s control.
When the passenger rights regime first launched, airlines faced a maximum fine of $25,000 for repeated violations. Ottawa later increased that amount to $250,000 through changes introduced in the 2023 federal budget.
The latest increase would quadruple the current maximum penalty and marks another attempt by the federal government to strengthen enforcement after years of criticism from travellers and consumer advocates.
The Canadian Transportation Agency, a quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator, handles disputes between passengers and airlines. Since the passenger bill of rights was introduced, the agency has struggled with a growing number of complaints.
The CTA told CBC News last month that its backlog had reached 95,000 air passenger complaints.
As part of Tuesday’s economic update, the Liberals said they plan to move the complaint resolution process to “a neutral, third-party dispute resolution organisation.” The government has not yet named the third-party adjudicator but pointed to systems used in the U.K. and European Union as possible models.
Air Canada also announced earlier this month that it would pilot a program to send air passenger complaints to a third party.
The federal government pledged in the 2023 budget to update the regulations and make the passenger rights process easier to understand.
“We put in place a system that in hindsight was onerous, expensive, took too long…. We are going to change that system,” MacKinnon said Friday. “If you are one of the 100,000 or so people involved in this backlog, help is on the way.”
The CTA proposed new regulations in late 2024 and finished consultations in March 2025. Those changes have not yet taken effect, leaving passengers and airlines waiting for the next stage of Canada’s air travel rights overhaul.
