Air Canada Jazz: The planes
will be 25 kilograms lighter! Oh, and everybody may drown...
Air Canada Jazz’s decision to drop inflatable life vests from its flights is
"asinine," Halifax-area MP Peter Stoffer said Saturday. "They’re removing
life vests?" he asked. "Are they nuts?"
The NDP member for Sackville-Eastern Shore said Jazz has "gone cost-saving
overboard." "You know what this is? This is probably some person in an
office somewhere that’s sitting there going: ‘These life vests weigh so
much. If we take them off and meet the minimum of the transport guidelines,
we could save so much fuel per year.’ "Unbelievable."
The Toronto Star reported Saturday that Jazz, Air Canada’s regional
affiliate, plans to reduce fuel consumption by dropping commercial life
vests from its flights, which will amount to about 25 kilograms less aboard
its Dash-8 planes with 50 seats.
The move will leave passengers holding onto their seats — or at least their
floating seat cushions — in the event the plane ditches and they hit the
water alive. Transport Canada regulations allow airlines to use flotation
devices, a secondary option for other carriers, instead of life vests as
long as the planes remain within 90 kilometres of shore. A Jazz official
said a number of its East Coast routes were adjusted so the planes met that
requirement, the Star reported.
Thirteen Jazz flights were in Halifax within a four-hour span on Saturday,
heading to and from places like Deer Lake, Goose Bay, Gander, Charlottetown,
Sydney, Boston and New York. A Halifax-area woman who said she’s an
experienced flyer wasn’t too concerned with the airline’s decision to ditch
life vests. She said that since Jazz doesn’t fly transatlantic routes, the
time most of its planes spend over any "serious body of water" is probably
minimal. She also said a person’s chances of surviving a crash into water
are not very good.
Jazz’s decision "doesn’t bother me," said the resident, who didn’t want to
be identified. "I don’t see it as a huge issue." Mr. Stoffer worked in the
airline industry in customer service for more than 18 years and takes more
than 90 return flights every year. He said he can appreciate that the
airline is trying to reduce fuel costs but added: "You don’t compromise
safety."
He wondered what would happen to those who cannot hold onto the straps of
the seat cushions, especially people travelling with children. "If you have
an infant (and) you don’t have a (life vest), you’re hanging on to the
cushion," he said. "Are they saying, ‘Hang onto the cushion with one arm and
your baby with another?’
"I mean, who comes up with these things?"
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