Air Transat safety overhaul ordered

Air Transat has been told to change its safety and maintenance procedures for long-distance flights after a harrowing close call over the Atlantic Ocean last week.

The airline must hold special training sessions for crews on overseas trips, Transport Canada said Thursday. The seminars will include how to handle fuel problems and the importance of diverting to the closest airport at the first sign of an engine emergency.

Air Transat has also promised to review the way staff on the ground perform routine maintenance on jets. It's already shown federal regulators a plan to hire more maintenance crews, and to improve the way they're trained.

"Transport Canada takes occurrences of this nature very seriously and will take whatever action is required to protect the travelling public," Transport Minister David Collenette said in a statement.

Last Friday, an Air Transat A-330 Airbus carrying 304 passengers and crew lost all its power on a flight from Toronto to Lisbon.

The jet ended up gliding to a safe but rough landing at a U.S. military base on the Azores Islands.

Investigators are still trying to figure out what happened. On Thursday, Air Transat refused to comment on speculation that the cockpit crew may have accidentally transferred large amounts of fuel to an engine with a leak.

• FROM AUG. 29, 2001: Air Transat maintenance work questioned

The airline said its pilots, who have been hailed as heroes by many of the passengers, followed proper "checklist procedures" in the air.

• FROM AUG. 24, 2001: Air Transat flights altered after scare in air

It's the second time since the emergency landing that Transport Canada has issued an order to Air Transat. Just hours after the incident, the airline was told to change its overseas flights to a more northerly path so that two-engine jets are closer to airports.