Originally Posted by
Symmetre
No question that airlines have contributed to current problems by selling flights they have no hope of actually operating. No one argues that their goals of ramping things back up vastly exceed their ability to actually do so.
But some responsibility also lies with the federal government, for they alone are responsible for maintaining adequate staffing levels at security and customs - two areas that have been identified as major bottlenecks. The feds are also responsible for decisions around whether or not employees need to be fully vaccinated in order to report for work. Only Ottawa controls the mandated use of the ArriveCan app, and only Ottawa has control to invoke random covid testing - two other items identified as contributing to massive delays.
Beyond the mess with CATSA, Transport Canada also responsible for backlogs in other aviation-related areas licensing pilots & ATC have come to light in recent days.
Air traffic controllers face licensing delays due to Transport Canada's crippling backlogs
'Completely dropped the ball': Transport Canada's endless delays ground pilots
So yes, some of the blame falls on the airlines and airport authorities but the Fed's are due a very hefty measure as well (I haven't even mentioned the passport debacle) so there's more than enough to go around for all parties involved.
The most frustrating thing is all stakeholders well knew the pandemic pause on travel for millions of Canadians would eventually end and demand would soar but rather than plan for an orderly scale-up it seems each entity was more intent on pointing out others failings while doing little if anything themselves.