Air Canada Chief Executive Officer Michael Rousseau will step down by the end of the third quarter of 2026, the airline announced Monday. After a deadly crash at LaGuardia Airport last week, concerns have grown about the state of air traffic control and the air travel industry.
Rousseau, who has been Air Canada’s CEO since 2021, faced criticism from French-speaking Canadians following his video statement addressing the collision between an Air Canada Express flight and a fire truck at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport, which killed two pilots and injured 41 passengers, according to the New York Times.
Other than the words “bonjour” and “merci” spoken at the beginning and end of his statement, Rousseau conveyed Air Canada’s emotional condolence message in English only with French subtitles.
Canada, a bilingual country, lists both English and French as its official languages. One of the pilots killed in the collision, Antoine Forest, was from the Province of Quebec, the New York Times said, where French is the official language. Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, is based in Montreal, Quebec, a city that also has French as its official language.
“We proudly live in a bilingual country, and companies like Air Canada, particularly, have a responsibility to always communicate in both official languages,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said. “I am very disappointed.”
Rousseau apologized for his actions last Thursday.
“I am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the profound grief of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada’s employees,” Rousseau said.
The collision at LaGuardia happened after a United Airlines plane called for routine servicing, causing air traffic controllers to send a fire truck to LaGuardia’s runway four to take care of the problem. At the same time, Air Canada Express flight 8646, flying in from Montreal, was en route towards runway four, with visibility lowered due to rainy conditions, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said.
“Stop, stop, stop” were the calls from air traffic control to the fire truck as it approached runway four before the crash, the New York Times reported in recorded audio from the accident.
Air traffic control took responsibility for the incident, highlighting concerns that in recent years, there has been a stark shortage of air traffic controllers across the United States. In Southern California, recent near-accidents have raised concerns that a disaster like LaGuardia’s could occur on the West Coast.
Students said they were surprised and fearful to learn of the New York City disaster, especially as residents of the nation’s second-largest city, a place with multiple nearby airports and heavy air traffic. Burbank’s airport, known for its small runways and proximity to the Van Nuys Airport, is under scrutiny from aviation authorities as a potential accident site, the LA Times said. Since 2018, there have been at least 12 near-collisions at the airport, the LA Times said.
“Commercial airlines have called me to say the next midair [collision] is going to be at Burbank,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told the LA Times.
Chemical engineering sophomore Naomi Noguera said news of a crash on the tarmac felt unusual.
“It was a shock because this one wasn’t in the air, it was on the ground, which I feel like is more preventable,” Naomi Noguera, a sophomore studying chemical engineering, said.
Last October, flights to Los Angeles International Airport were halted due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, NBC News reported. These shortages also affected the Hollywood Burbank Airport around the same time. Hakeem Kokumo, a sophomore studying business of cinematic arts, said he hoped the shortages and long shifts of air traffic controllers could be addressed.
“Of course I’m going to feel afraid of flying when the agents or employees feel like they’re not being cared for,” Kokumo said.
He also pointed towards the Trump administration’s cuts to the Federal Aviation Administration during the last year, which have reportedly affected air traffic controllers and other personnel involved in air safety.
“It’s sad to see a direct effect of the government that we’re in now and lives being at risk because of that,” Kokumo added.
Down in Orange County, a California Air National Guard Black Hawk helicopter nearly collided with a United Airlines flight inbound from San Francisco to the John Wayne Santa Ana airport last Thursday, the LA Times said.
“We’re going to be addressing that, because that was not good,” an air traffic controller said after the incident, according to a LA Times report.