"Committing to do better": Air Canada CEO apologizes to customers with disabilities
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau announced new accessibility measures and issued an apology to customers with disabilities.
This comes after several recent incidents involving passengers with disabilities who spoke out against the airline for being mistreated during their travels.
One of those passengers was Rodney Hodgins, a wheelchair user from BC who said he had to drag himself off of a flight after Air Canada failed to provide him with wheelchair assistance.
Following this news, Minister of Transportation Pablo Rodriguez summoned the airline to Ottawa this week to present a plan to better serve passengers with disabilities.
“Canadians expect Air Canada to do better,” Rodriguez said in a statement to Daily Hive.
On Thursday, Rousseau announced Air Canada is accelerating the implementation of its three-year accessibility plan in order to make “travel easier and more comfortable with disabilities.”
Air Canada Takes Action to Improve Experience for Customers with Disabilities. To read more: https://t.co/nBr9BNyfG9 pic.twitter.com/RhZ2HcgcFH
— Air Canada (@AirCanada) November 9, 2023
Rousseau said the airline “recognizes the challenges customers with disabilities encounter when they fly and accepts its responsibility to provide convenient and consistent service.”
“Sometimes we do not meet this commitment, for which we offer a sincere apology,” he noted.
Rousseau said the airline will be implementing immediate measures to better serve customers with disabilities.
This includes boarding customers who require lift assistance first, storing mobility aids in the aircraft cabin, implementing enhanced training to improve employee interactions with customers with disabilities, and creating a new senior director of customer accessibility role to manage the implementation of the company’s accessibility plan.
“As our customers with disabilities tell us, the most important thing is that we continuously improve in the future,” he stated.
“We are listening to them and today we are committing to do better and demonstrating that commitment with concrete actions.”
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