Canadian-American Cold War Over Charter Flights Ends

As autumn approaches, expect the Maple Leafs be flying around America again, according to reports from The Globe and Mail.

So congratulations to Air Canada. I’m sure the loss of the Columbus-Tampa route had them on the verge of bankruptcy.

The only Canadian team in Major League Baseball has switched to an American airline to work around the ban on foreign carriers flying between U.S. airports, the Associated Press reports.

The situation is making life much more complicated for the Blue Jays, even for a short trip to Detroit:

Air Canada has sued the Obama Administration over the ban on Canadian charter carriers flying between American cities, The Financial Post reports.

Court documents seem to show that the suit is solely on the basis of obstruction to sports franchises:

Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy has some really good explanation of the exact circumstances surrounding this issue. The most interesting theory is that this is a direct result of the Obama Administration instituting sweeping changes from when Bush was in office.

The D.C.-based Air Line Pilots Association initiated this action from the Obama Administration by complaining that Air Canada charter flights were transporting passengers to and from U.S. cities who weren’t also transported to or from Canada, according to these findings from the U.S. Department of Transportation (.pdf). The ALPA claimed this practice was a violation of U.S. Code Title 49, which “prohibits the transportation of persons ... between points of the U.S. in a foreign civil aircraft.“He goes onto explain exactly what was happening that led to this change (or more concisely, actual enforcement of the law).

In the wake of the US DOT’s ban on chartered Canadian flights between US cities, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly says that this new ruling has caused the NHL to scramble to work out new travel arrangements.

“It’s potentially a very significant impact,” Mr. Daly said Friday. “It’s crazy and very destabilizing to our business. We’re operating on a long-standing interpretation and for it to change overnight on the eve of our season is creating a huge problem for us.“The change in the exemption came after the U.S. Air Line Pilots Association had demanded an investigation. The inquiry found that some injured players and team personnel had boarded the flight in the U.S, before flying directly to another U.S. city, which violates the 8-year old aggreement.

TSN in Canada is reporting that the U.S. Department of Transportation is banning Canada’s charter planes from flying from one city to another. According to the story:

That ultimately means that if, say, the Maple Leafs have a game in New Jersey on a Tuesday and then have to play in Florida on Wednesday, they will technically have to return to Canada before flying to Florida. At least that’s how the ruling reads right now. This could clearly have far reaching impact because Canadian officials are looking to retaliate: