MONTRÉAL, Canada –  Air Canada today issued the following comment on a monetary penalty Transport Canada has imposed on a former Air Canada pilot related to his type of certification.

“Safety was not compromised by this incident because all pilots at Air Canada undergo mandatory recurrent training every six months to validate their flying competency, including a flight check with a certified Transport Canada check-pilot every 12 months. However, appropriate licencing is an essential layer of the airline industry’s multi-layered approach to safety, so Air Canada takes this matter with utmost seriousness. It has undertaken an audit of its pilot group and found no other instances of non-compliance. Also, pilot licences are cross-checked by a certified check pilot twice a year as part of the recurrent checks and training, and Air Canada has reinforced its administrative practices when physically verifying licences. This includes verifying the original documents issued by Transport Canada.

“Throughout his employment with Air Canada, the individual in question was a fully trained pilot who held a valid Commercial Pilot Licence, and he successfully met or exceeded the required recurrent training, demonstrating a high level of competency to safely operate large aircraft.

“However, although both captains and first officers are trained to operate aircraft, regulations require that captains of large aircraft operated by airlines in Canada hold an airline transport pilot licence (ATPL), obtained by passing a series of written exams. This individual, who had been promoted to captain, lacked the mandatory ATPL for the position. Immediately upon Air Canada’s discovery of this, the individual was removed from active duty, and the company voluntarily reported the matter to Transport Canada.

“The former pilot is no longer employed by Air Canada. Due to privacy law and an active criminal investigation, Air Canada is unable to provide further comment on this matter.”