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Canada airline to fly without life vests
Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel.
- AP
- Published: 23:53 August 29, 2008
Toronto: Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel.
Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart said Thursday that government regulations set by Transport Canada allow airlines to use floatation devices instead of life vests provided the planes remain within 80 kilometres of shore.
Safety cards in the seat pockets of Jazz aircraft now direct passengers to use the seat cushions as floatation devices.
"The nature of our operations doesn't require that we carry both. Jazz is a transcontinental carrier that doesn't fly over the ocean," Stuart said.
Jazz planes do fly over the Great Lakes and along the Eastern seaboard from Halifax to Boston to New York.
Stuart said all flights operate within 80 kilometers of shore. She said Jazz operates 880 flights daily to 85 destinations in North America and the number of flights that operate over water are minimal.
A commercial-style life vest weighs roughly a half-kilogramme, meaning 25 kilogrammes would be saved by removing them from a Dash-8 aircraft with 50 seats, the most common aircraft the company uses.
Woody French, mayor of Conception Bay South, Newfoundland, called it a cheap move.
"Taking off 25 kilograms is not going to make a hell of a lot of difference to the fuel consumption."
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