Air Canada has issued an apology after it was discovered that over 40 of its aircraft displayed “Palestinian territories” instead of Israel on their in-flight entertainment maps.
The issue, which affected the airline’s Boeing 737 MAX fleet, came to light during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict when a passenger noticed and reported the discrepancy. The airline acknowledged the mistake and pledged to correct it.
Air Canada told CNN that 40 planes were impacted after conducting an internal assessment. The airline’s official website indicates a total fleet exceeding 350 aircraft, which includes 43 737 MAX twin-engine jets.
The in-flight entertainment system was manufactured by the French aerospace organisation Thales, whilst the mapping system was developed by an unnamed external contractor for Thales.
The airline, along with French aerospace company Thales, which supplies the in-flight entertainment systems, released a joint statement addressing the matter. The actual map creator remains unnamed.
“It was brought to the attention of Air Canada that the interactive map on its Boeing 737 fleet did not consistently portray certain Middle Eastern boundaries, including those of the State of Israel, at all amplification levels,” the airline’s statement read.
“Air Canada’s policy in general is to display only city names on the maps in its aircraft, and the configuration on this particular system was not compliant with this policy.”
The carrier confirmed that, “the planes had their map function immediately disabled, and a revised map was already installed by Friday.”
“Air Canada and Thales apologize for the unease created by this situation,” the statement concluded. “Thales is working closely with the airline and the involved third-party to remediate this regrettable issue as soon possible,” they added.