A not-so-sunny-day in September

摘要

There is a shopworn joke in air transport that now aircraft largely fly themselves and airlines are paying pilots for 20 minutes' work. Trouble is, you never know which 20. A similar truism might be said of recent federal transport ministers. Like piloting an airliner, the responsibility for keeping Canada moving remains a great one. But privatization of Transport's various pieces has shrunk the minister's influence. Then along comes a sunny September morning in New York 10 years ago. Reflecting on 9-11 with David Collenette - Canada's transport minister at the timeyou are reminded there was no precedent for what unfolded that tragic day or those that followed. Over a two-week period, Collenette became the first transport minister in history to shut down Canadian airspace, preside over the diversion of 238, mostly U.S.-bound, flights to 17 Canadian airports (the bulk, 47 and 38, arriving in Halifax and Gander respectively), negotiate the orderly return to the of air ahead of the U.S. and respond to the possibility of insurers grounding airlines even longer.