New airline safety system put on hold

Transport Canada has decided to delay the implementation of a new safety system for small airlines although major carriers will continue to operate under the policy.  

In an internal email obtained by CBC News, Martin Eley, the government’s director general for civil aviation, said the new safety management systems (SMS) will be put on hold for at least a year for airlines carrying fewer than 20 passengers.

In the email, Eley acknowledged that the delay is due to concerns about how safety management systems are working.

The new arrangement is considered a major shift in aviation regulation. Instead of federal inspectors conducting audits of how well airlines follow regulations, this is now the airlines' responsibility.

There is no penalty for breaking the rules as long as companies keep track of their mistakes and fix them.

In a written statement, Transport Canada said the new safety system saves lives by allowing airlines to detect problems early and prevent accidents.

But Daniel Slunder, the national chair of the Canadian Federal Pilots Association, which represents nearly 500 federal inspectors, said he will share evidence of safety violations with a parliamentary committee looking into the issue.

"Since we're no longer in the company's face looking into the paperwork, we're not sure they're compliant anymore," Slunder said.

Slunder said inspectors are told to focus on validating an airline's system for monitoring itself, and not to investigate.

"It works — I mean  if you're not pathological," Slunder said. "But if you're a company that has a less than stellar performance, it's quite easy to hide things."