Air Transat faces a probe after two flights were held on the ground at Ottawa airport for hours in conditions passengers reportedly described as “deplorable”.
The flights from Brussels and Rome were diverted on July 31 amid bad weather in Montreal and Toronto.
Passengers were stranded for between five and six hours without adequate air conditioning, food or water.
Then on one flight they eventually rang emergency services.
The two international flights were among 20 diverted to Ottawa from Montreal and Toronto.
Air Transat said that numerous factors beyond its control, including long waits for fuel, had resulted in its inability to reduce the delay and allow passengers to disembark safely.
Airline CEO Jean-Francois Lemay said that “something did not work well, obviously” on July 31.
“I am not saying there is a fault or blame but there is a collective responsibility that has to be observed in these events,” he was reported by the BBC as saying.
Flight 507 pilot Yves St-Laurent testified before a Canadian Transportation Agency panel that the tarmac delay seemed like “the lesser evil” compared to the logistics of deplaning and sending passengers through customs.
Pilots were consistently told the aircraft would be refuelled in short order.
“If we had known that the delay would be longer than three hours, the decisions would have been very different,” St-Laurent said.
Flight staff said food and water were running low but that refreshments were available and temperatures seemed acceptable.
But some passengers described a growing frustration and panic fuelled by poor communication from airline staff.
More than one passenger testified during the public hearings that they felt they were seen simply as “luggage”.
In a statement to the panel, Flight 507 passengers Alan and Patricia Abraham said they were initially told the delay in Ottawa would be just 45 minutes to refuel.
The couple said they were stranded for some hours, were given a small meal and only once offered a small glass of water.
“The bathroom had run out of toilet paper. One young boy became nauseous and was trying to make his way to the bathroom when he vomited in the aisle and all over several passengers two rows behind us,” they said. “The stench was unbearable.”
People on board Flight 157 from Brussels to Montreal were experiencing similar conditions to Flight 507.
At one point passengers chanted “open the door, open the door” to cabin crew. The cabin temperature reached upwards of 31C.
Passengers eventually rang 911 to complain of the heat and inability to disembark, and emergency responders came to their assistance and handed out water.