In the wake of a major airline crash, it’s not unusual for the carrier’s CEO to resign, especially if there were signs that corporate culture may have played a hand in it.
In the case of Air Canada Express Flight 8646, that’s not the case. In fact, it’s pretty much clear at this point that the Air Canada jet had no role in the accident and that some concatenation of events led to a fire truck given clearance to cross a runway as the jet was landing.
Rather, Michael Rousseau is out of a job because he didn’t offer an apology in French as well as English.
The March 22 crash killed both the captain and first officer on board the Bombardier CRJ900, although all 72 passengers and two other crew members survived the flight from Montreal to New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
And while Rousseau put out a four-minute video apology, saying he had the “deepest sorrow for everyone affected,” the Financial Times reported that wasn’t what got people upset.
Instead, it was the fact that the only French words he used were “bonjour” and “merci.”
“Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, is based in majority French-speaking Quebec,” the Financial Times noted.
“Canada is officially a bilingual nation and his message sparked condemnation from senior political leaders, while also stirring longstanding tensions that led Quebec to attempt to become an independent state via referendums in 1980 and 1995.”
And Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney weighed in, because of course he did, and in the worst way possible.
“Companies like Air Canada particularly have a responsibility to always communicate in both official languages regardless of the situation,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
Hellbound and Down 