Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 12, 2009, Winnipeg, Manitoba C m y k Page a5 Winnipeg repress. Com top news Winnipeg free press monday january 12, 2009 a 5 l Lousy weather caused Christmas air travellers in Canada to wait for planes that never came suffer Long delays and travel thousands of Kilometres out of their Way. But George Bouchard president of Canadian Union of Public employees local 4093, said air Canada made a bad situation worse for passengers in Winnipeg. Bouchard said the controversial nov. 1 closure of the flight attendant base Here exacerbated passenger problems. Ism not saying it would have alleviated the flights in the holidays but having a base Here would have made it smoother and with Shorter delays Bouchard said. Ive no doubt. Air Canada announced last year it needed to Cut 2,000 jobs As a Cost cutting measure. That number later dropped to Layoff notices for 1,200, including All 145 flight attendants in Winnipeg. In october the Manitoba government launched a lawsuit against air Canada arguing that the airlines decision to close the local flight attendant base was in breach of Federal aviation Laws governing private commercial airlines. The province claims the Federal air Canada Public participation action requires the airline to have operation and overhaul centres in the City. The matter is still before the courts. Barry Prentice a member of the University of Manitoba ass transport Institute said it makes sense that the airlines scheduling was affected by the closure of the flight attendant base Here but he does not know to what extent. Sometimes these have a cumulative effect he said. There was a very unusual snowstorm in Vancouver at the same time As an unusual snowstorm in Toronto. If it Hadnot been for the unusual weather they might have been of. What it does show is the difference Between air Canada and West Jet Prentice said. Prentice said air Canada has had to make Tough financial decisions such As the base closure because As a unionized airline it is competing with no unionized West Jet. Peter Fitzpatrick National spokesman for air Canada denied that any of the problems the airline had were due to the Lack of a flight attendant base Here. He said All the problems were weather related. The whole airline Industry in Canada had an interesting Christmas season because of weather Fitzpatrick said. We encountered unprecedented weather. But a number of passengers grounded in Winnipeg wondered Why West Jet flights could take off in spite of the poor weather while air Canadas jets . Bouchard who himself is an attendant who will shortly be working out of a base in Toronto said with no flight attendant base Here delays in flights become crucial because of the number of hours flight Crew members can legally work. Bouchard said a flight attendant can Only work 13 hours straight followed by 10 hours off. There used to be people in Reserve Here in Winnipeg for those instances when a person was sick or when a flight was delayed he said. With the closure there is nobody Here now. Were All operating out of Toronto now. Flights across the country were grounded after de icing trucks in Vancouver keep up the majority of flights were cancelled in and out of Halifax because of High winds and about 300 flights were cancelled in Toronto on a Day leading up to Christmas. During the Christmas season we move More than 100,000 people per Day and people take 40 per cent More Luggage Fitzpatrick said. Its like moving a mid sized City in a Day. If one flight is delayed somewhere it will be late Down the line. It is a Domino effect. Fitzpatrick said the airline apologizes to anyone who was inconvenienced. The airline has announced it is reviewing on its operations during the holidays because Only 59 per cent of its flights arrived on time in december instead of its expected 68 per cent. West Jet spokesman Robert Palmer said hundreds of its flights were also delayed or cancelled because of the weather but they distributed hotel vouchers to passengers not in their Home cities. We did it not for the accolades we did it because its the right thing to do Palmer said. Kevin. Rollason free press. My. Ca airline made bad times worse cupe loss of local flight attendant base blamed having a base Here would have made it smoother and with Shorter delays George Bouchard air Canada flight attendant by Kevin Rollason Mike Aporius / Winnipeg free press cupe says air Canadas decision to scrap its flight attendant base Here last fall made a bad situation worse for travellers Over the Christmas holidays. A 05_ Jan 12 09. Ind a5 1 / 11/ 09 8 28 34 pm ;