Law360 Canada ( October 29, 2025, 9:37 AM EDT) -- Appeal by the appellant from Canadian Transportation Agency’s (Agency) disruptions within safety category decision. A decade ago, a review of Canada’s transportation system concluded that legislative and regulatory reform was needed to ensure the fair and reasonable treatment of air travellers. Legislative amendments led to the promulgation of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (the Regulations). The amendments directed the Agency to make regulations in relation to flights to, from, and within Canada, that prescribed air carriers’ obligations towards passengers in the event of a flight disruption. In the decision on appeal, the Agency held that a disruption resulting from a crew shortage did not fall within the safety category unless the carrier demonstrated that the disruption could not be reasonably prevented, or was unavoidable, despite proper planning and was not the result of the carrier’s own actions or inactions. On appeal, WestJet submitted that the Agency’s interpretation ignored the plain and ordinary meaning of the Regulations, which defined a flight disruption required for safety purposes as one that was required by law in order to reduce risk to passenger safety. It argued that passengers should not receive compensation for any flight disruption that arose in response to a safety issue, regardless of the circumstances that led to the safety issue, including a carrier’s failure to take reasonable measures to develop and implement a contingency plan to mitigate the disruption....