Air Canada Welcomes Transport Minister's Lift of Restrictions on Canadian Airports, Passengers urged not to Proceed to Airports Until Further Notice

MONTREAL, Sept. 12 /CNW/ - Air Canada welcomes Transport Minister David Collenette's announcement that he has authorized first steps toward the normalization of air travel in Canada. Until operations resume tomorrow on a limited basis, Air Canada strongly urges customers not to present themselves at airports.

Air Canada flight dispatch and operations personnel are currently working with NavCanada and regulatory authorities in order to prepare for an orderly start-up of operations expected to begin tomorrow, Thursday September 13, 2001. Specific details on the resumption of a limited schedule, pending clarification of security measures to be undertaken, will be provided in subsequent press releases.

In the interim, for the remainder of today, Air Canada is focusing on operating to their final Canadian destination Air Canada transatlantic flights that were diverted to Atlantic Canada airports yesterday.

Air Canada is also dispatching an aircraft with maintenance and other personnel to Atlantic Canada in order to assist in the start up of operations of other airlines whose aircraft were diverted to Canada en route to North American destinations.

Air Canada continues to monitor the situation as it develops and will issue further press releases, available on the airline's website, www.aircanada.ca, providing the status of its operations as information becomes available.

Updated: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 18:05 EST