Air Canada chief executive blasts government for maintaining travel restrictions

Air Canada’s CE Calin Rovinescu has excoriated the government of Canada for maintaining coronavirus-prompted travel restrictions he says are hindering the air transport industry’s ability to return to any semblance of normalcy.<br/>Rovinescu questioned why the government of Canada is “continuing with these broad and indiscriminate measures” that are “disproportionate [and] out of step with other countries”. The measures remain in place some four months into a crisis that grounded much of global air travel earlier this year. “In imposing comprehensive, blanket quarantine and other travel restrictions, our government effectively deployed its emergency powers. And, at the time, broad-brush, immediate blanket prohibitions may well have been necessary, having been introduced at the peak of the crisis,” Rovinescu said. “Now, more than 100 days later, aviation in our country is still largely closed and an enormous amount of people in Canada are severely impacted. Our government needs to act reasonably in discharging its broad powers. They do need to consider alternatives that achieve the public health objectives in a way that minimises damage to the economic and social well-being of Canadians and apply objective, evidence-based measures that carefully balance the many competing interests and other rights at play, especially as the curve has flattened."<br/>