Ottawa, ON, March 18, 2024 – The National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC), which represents Canada’s largest passenger airlines, today acknowledged the announcement by the Government of Canada of a planned National Air Accessibility Summit, to be held May 9, 2024.

NACC’s member airlines are committed to increasing the accessibility of air travel for persons with disabilities through the ongoing identification and removal of barriers.

Our members have long been engaged in a variety of initiatives to increase air travel accessibility, and we recognize the commitment of the tens of thousands of workers in our industry who work every day to facilitate accessible air travel.  The upcoming federal summit represents an important opportunity to collaborate with government and other stakeholder partners in the travel ecosystem in order to take a shared step forward to safe and accessible travel for all.

Air travel, however, represents just one mode of transportation used by Canadians, and accessibility must be a central principle for all modes.  We encourage the Government of Canada to include all forms of transportation at the summit, in order to best serve the interests of Canadians with disabilities.

Canada’s airlines look forward to the opportunity to participate in a meaningful discussion on both the challenges and the solutions at this spring’s summit to ensure that transportation is accessible to all.

About the National Airlines Council of Canada:

The National Airlines Council of Canada represents Canada’s largest national and international passenger air carriers:  Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Aviation LP and WestJet.  It promotes safe, sustainable, accessible and competitive air travel by advocating for the development of policies, regulations and legislation to foster a world-class transportation system.

For more information, contact Josie Sabatino; jsabatino@summa.ca, 250-649-6856