HALIFAX — The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia has approved a settlement in the class-action lawsuit involving a crash landing of an Air Canada flight in Halifax more than a decade ago. Twenty-five of 133 passengers on board Air Canada Flight 624 from Toronto were injured when the airplane struck power lines during a snowstorm at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in March 2015, causing the plane to land about 200 metres short of the runway. Under the terms of the settlement, Air Canada, Nav Canada, and the Halifax International Airport Authority are to pay a total of $18,075,000 to settle the class action, which includes legal fees and expenses. Air Canada will pay the bulk of the settlement -- more than $15 million, according to case documents. Nav Canada, the country’s air navigation service provider, will pay $2 million while the Halifax International Airport Authority’s share is $1 million. The settlement agreement does not include any admission or finding of liability by the defendants. “Nav Canada welcomes the court’s approval of the settlement. The resolution of this long and complex litigation is a positive outcome for all parties,” the agency said in an email Monday. The airport authority said it recognizes the length of the process and is mindful of those affected. “We are grateful that no lives were lost. Our focus remains on safe and secure airport operations, as it always has been,” it said in an email. Air Canada spokesperson Sean Davidson said in an email that the company is satisfied the matter has been resolved through an agreement. Ray Wagner, founder of Wagners, one of three law firms representing passengers along with CFM Lawyers LLP and MacGillivray Injury and Insurance Law, said in an interview that a lot of issues dragged out the settlement. He said lawyers spent more than two years negotiating individual cases with Air Canada and Nav Canada. They then spent three years trying to gain access to the plane’s cockpit voice recording, in a legal fight they successfully took to the Supreme Court of Canada. “We had all these intervening things,” Wagner said in an interview Monday. “The only real good news is that the class members don’t have to wait any longer. Their compensation is determined, they’re aware of it, and we will be paying them out very shortly.” Wagner added that the amount of compensation will vary based on a person’s injuries. They range from scrapes and bruises to knee, back and shoulder injuries, along with post-traumatic stress. The settlement includes more than $5 million for legal fees and nearly $900,000 in disbursements for experts and professionals who provided opinions on the case. The Transportation Safety Board’s final investigation report, released two years after the incident, said the plane was circling the airport just after midnight on Mar. 29, 2015, when the crew was told visibility had improved to the minimum needed for landing. The plane was placed in autopilot as it approached the airport, with the flight crew relying on the “localizer” radio beacon which provides lateral guidance to align the aircraft with the runway’s centre line. It does not provide information on altitude. The board said the pilots did not take into account a headwind that was pushing the plane off its intended flight path. The report said Air Canada’s standard operating procedures at the time did not require the flight crew to cross-check their altitude and distance, a procedural gap that has since been closed. The report cited several other factors, including problems with runway lighting. Realizing the danger, the captain poured on the thrust and pulled back on the stick to gain altitude, but it was too late. A second later, one of the jet’s tires hit an approach light about 260 metres from the runway. The aircraft clipped some power lines, knocking out power to the airport. The jet’s main landing gear and left engine then struck a snowbank and the Airbus 320-211 smashed into an antenna array before bouncing twice along the runway for another 600 metres in a shower of sparks and leaking fuel. The landing gear collapsed, an engine was torn off, but there was no fire. Since the crash, the airport has upgraded navigation and lighting infrastructure. Some passengers said they waited for more than an hour for emergency responders as they stood outside huddled against blowing snow in temperatures around -6 C. The airport has said passengers waited up to 50 minutes for help and that firefighters were on scene within 90 seconds. The board said recovery of the uninjured passengers was delayed by the severe weather and the failure of the airport’s two standby generators. Without backup power, the airport’s radio network failed, making it difficult to arrange for transportation after emergency responders declared the site clear for an evacuation. By Devin Stevens This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2026.
