Katz asks AirCan to reverse decision on downtown hotels

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This article was published 03/10/2011 (5148 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayor Sam Katz has asked Air Canada to “reverse its decision immediately” to pull flight crews out of downtown Winnipeg – and has also asked the airline’s president to explain the move.

In an internal memo now in wide circulation, Air Canada said it’s moving its flight crews from Portage Avenue’s Radisson hotel to an airport-vicinity hotel due to safety risks.

After condemning the memo over the weekend, Katz called Air Canada president and CEO Calin Rovinescu this morning. But the mayor was told the president was in a meeting and would get back to Katz on Wednesday.

Katz also wrote Rovinescu a letter asking the airline president to clarify “ a number of major inaccuracies” in the memo.

 “The reasons Air Canada has given in the memo, according to media reports, are based on a supposed safety audit of the area by the Winnipeg Police Service, and because pilots and flight staff have expressed feeling unsafe. I have spoken with Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill, who has informed me at this time, no associated safety assessment in collaboration with Air Canada has been completed,” Katz said in the letter, which was distributed to media this morning.

 Katz also repeated the fact he has spoken to the Air Canada Pilots’ Association, which has no interest in moving from downtown. The pilots believe downtown Winnipeg is no different than any other downtown in the world, Katz said in the letter.

Speaking to reporters outside his office, Katz repeated his assertion the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball club, which he owns, has experienced no issues with the Radisson hotel over the summer.

 Katz said he believed some other issue must be at play in Air Canada’s decision and regretted what he characterized as the perpetuation of negative stereotypes about Winnipeg.

 Downtown Winnipeg is not without issues, Katz said, but is more vibrant now than at any point in recent decades due to new apartments, condos, commercial developments and festivals..

 The mayor also said he has not been informed of any problems involving flood evacuees – a group cited as a potential safety risk by the Air Canada memo.

Katz declined to comment whether the memo smacked of racism. Some of the flood evacuees staying in downtown hotels are from Interlake First Nations.