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Sports Charters
Published in the September 2009 issue of Transportation Notes - View Article
A battle began this summer when the US DOT ordered Air Canada to cease the operation of sports charter flights involving multiple stops in the United States. The Canadian Minister of Transport directed the Canadian Transportation Agency to respond in kind. Air Canada commenced a civil action against the US DOT and settlement discussions were held at a high political level. All of this took place in the run-up to the start of the 2009-2010 season of the National Hockey League.
Air Canada and the DOT have settled the law suit but the terms of that Agreement are limited to charters operated for teams of the NHL. The terms of that settlement are largely reflected in directions, issued by the CTA on September 29, respecting the conditions on which such charters can be operated for NHL organizations.
The background to this turmoil is the liberal air services agreement between Canada and the United States. The bilateral allows air carriers of either country to operate an unlimited number of stop-overs in the territory of the other, provided these are connected to a trans-border segment. Thus, Air Canada is clearly authorized to carry traffic between, for example, New York and Boston provided that the traffic originated in or returned to Canada. Applied to sports teams, this allows the operation of season-long charters with multiple stops in the United States.
The US DOT stepped in to prevent this practice as it was of the view that there is no practicable way to prevent cabotage. It was concerned that, because of the fact that team membership is virtually certain to change in the course of a season, some persons whose itinerary had no point in Canada would nevertheless be carried between U.S. points, resulting in a violation of the rule prohibiting cabotage.
The Canadian Air Transportation Regulations allow carriers operating trans-border entity charters which originate in Canada to operate without applying for a permit provided they observe post facto filing requirements. In the case of U.S. originating entity charters there is a 48 hour advance notification requirement.
On September 2nd the CTA announced that all U.S. originating sports charters would require Agency approval and prohibited all charter flights carried out by U.S. carriers under season-long contracts and providing for multiples stops in Canada. The Agency also ordered an investigation of the practices of U.S. carriers engaged in multi-stop charters and those carriers received a demand that they produce full details of certain multi-stop charters operated in the last year.
On September 29th the Agency published two guidelines describing the new requirements for sports charters. In the case of all organizations other than those of the NHL, season-long charters with multiple stops in Canada operated by U.S. carriers continue to be prohibited. In the case of NHL charters, the new Canadian rules mirror the terms of the Air Canada/US DOT settlement.
In the first place, the post-facto reporting and advance notification rules set out in the ATRs are set aside and U.S. carriers are required to apply for approval before the flight is operated. This rule applies whether or not the proposed charter is one with multiple stops in Canada. The application is to be filed 3 days before the first planned flight and is to include a copy of all charter contracts, confirmation that there are no other contracts with the NHL organization, all points of enplanement and deplanement along with dates and times of arrival and departure. The application must also include a team roster and confirmation that all on the roster are either employed by, or under contract with, the team. Finally, a copy of the season schedule is to be included along with a notice of the aircraft type to be utilized.
Where the charter is one under which a U.S. carrier proposes to operate multiple stops in Canada for the 2009-2010 NHL season, any approval will be subject to defined conditions. The carrier will be required to designate a compliance officer who will be responsible for monitoring the flights to ensure that the carrier does not carry any individual between points in Canada unless that individual is on an itinerary which involves a trans-border flight. All roster changes are to be notified to the Agency promptly and the carrier is responsible for ensuring that all individuals on the roster are employed by, or under contract with, the NHL team. Every month the carrier must identify each individual who has been carried on a charter flight but who has not travelled trans-border. It must also provide a plan for transporting each such individual trans-border within the following two-month period. All manifests must note the prohibition of cabotage and the carrier’s flight service director must check each individual boarding the flight against the manifest and roster. Within 30 days of the final flight of the charter, a senior officer of the carrier must certify that no person was transported between Canadian points who was not also transported into or out of Canada on the charter flights. Alternatively, the officer may certify certain persons were so transported. In that case the certificate must include the names of the persons, the points between which they were transported, and the dates of the transportation. Finally, the carrier must provide a copy of the conditions to the NHL organization with whom it is in contract.
While it should be possible to operate the NHL charters for the season which has just begun the larger issue of other sports charters remains to be resolved.