Air Canada apologizes after flight maps erase Israel—Here’s what happened

The mistake, which affected the interactive maps on at least 40 of the airline's Boeing 737 planes, went viral after a passenger noticed the error on a flight from Vancouver to Montreal. The issue was quickly highlighted on social media, prompting significant backlash.

In a statement to CNN, an Air Canada spokesperson confirmed the issue, explaining that the airline had been made aware that the interactive maps on certain aircraft did not consistently display the boundaries of the State of Israel. The spokesperson said, “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. We apologize for the unease created by this situation.”

Air Canada also clarified that its general policy is to only display city names on the maps in its aircraft, and that the system used on its Boeing 737 planes did not comply with this policy. The entertainment system on these planes was built by French aerospace company Thales, while the maps themselves came from an unnamed vendor. Following the incident, Air Canada quickly corrected the issue, ensuring that all affected planes now display Israel's internationally recognized borders.

This incident is not the first of its kind. Last year, JetBlue issued an apology after a similar map error misrepresented Israel’s borders, and British Airways faced similar criticism in 2013. Perhaps the most inventive response came from Swiss Airlines, which in 2018 decided to disable the map feature entirely when flying near Ben Gurion Airport to avoid any geopolitical conflicts.

As global airlines continue to grapple with politically sensitive issues, Air Canada's swift response serves as a reminder of the complex nature of such discrepancies and the ongoing challenges surrounding the depiction of Israel in international travel.