MONTREAL - Air Canada is hoping to fly dozens of passengers stranded by a near-riot in Buenos Aires back to Toronto over the next few days.
An Air Canada flight from the Argentinian capital was forced to fly half full on the weekend after angry locals frustrated by a labour dispute brought a Buenos Aires airport to a standstill.
Rampaging passengers smashed ticket counters, threw computers to the ground and attacked security guards.
"They caused quite a bit of damage and they even blocked other passengers from getting through checkpoints and security controls,'' Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur said Monday.
Arthur says about 50 of the stranded passengers were rebooked on other airlines while 40 others will take regular Air Canada flights over the next few days.
Arthur said Saturday night's flight 093 was delayed as long as possible as airline staff tried to round up passengers and get them through security.
She says the flight crew was approaching its maximum allowed time on duty when the flight was forced to leave.
"The flight crews are under Transport Canada regulations which they must respect,'' Arthur said.
"They cannot exceed a number of hours of flying time.''
Arthur said the airline will pick up the tab for hotel, meal and telephone expenses for stranded passengers.
She added that the situation has stabilized at the Buenos Aires airport.
The protests broke out after local airline Aerolineas Argentinas announced it was cancelling most of its flights on Saturday due to a labour dispute.
