B.C. airline owner can’t fight loss of company’s licence following 2006 crash

VANCOUVER – Canada’s highest court has refused to hear an appeal from a British Columbia man who owns a now-bankrupt charter airline.

In a decision released Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the appeal from Ranjit Gill, the owner of International Express Aircharter Ltd.

The airline went bankrupt shortly after its air operator certificate was suspended in 2006 following a crash near Tofino, B.C., that injured five people and killed three others, including a three-year-old boy.

Gill argued Transport Canada was wrong to lift the airline’s licence and use an inapplicable regulation to order the suspension.

Transport Canada did not dispute use of the inapplicable rule, but Gill lost the case in B.C. Supreme Court and then the B.C. Court of Appeal.

As usual, the high court offered no reasons for its refusal to hear the case.