The Canadian Transportation Authority (CTA) said on Thursday that Air Canada, its regional affiliate Jazz Air LP and WestJet Airlines can no longer charge more than one fare for disabled passengers needing special in-flight care.

The decision does not apply to obese passengers who are not disabled, the CTA said. The airlines will need to develop policies to determine who is eligible and new screening procedures to determine who is disabled by obesity.

But CTA said the carriers might look to standards used by Southwest Airlines, which screens for entitlement 'by determining whether a person can lower the armrest'.

The CTA said that compliance by Air Canada would cost it 0.09 per cent of C$8.2 billion (S$11.6 billion) in annual passenger revenue.

REUTERS