After Israel was removed from the map of some of its aircraft: "Air Canada apologizes for the distress"

The maps in the entertainment system of Air Canada's Boeing 737s displayed Israel as "the Palestinian territories" and after the issue was revealed and sparked controversy, the company disabled the system, updated the data, and issued an apology. "Air Canada's general policy is to only display city names on its aircraft maps, and the definition of this specific system did not conform to the company's policy"

PassportNews

published 14.03.25 | 23:51

Air Canada apologizes after discovering that some of its fleet displayed maps that removed Israel.

The maps in the company's Boeing 737 aircraft, which were part of the in-flight entertainment system, did not present Israel as a country, but replaced it with the name "the Palestinian territories". The maps have been disabled until they are updated.

The removal of Israel from the maps on the aircraft was first discovered by a passenger who drew the company's attention to the issue in a post he published on X with a picture from the screens. The post on X generated many reactions such as: "Air Canada humiliated Israel and labeled it as "Palestinian territories", this is not a mistake, this is erasure!"

X page

The specific in-flight entertainment system was produced by the company Thales.

Air Canada and Thales, the manufacturer of the in-flight entertainment system installed on 40 of the airline's Boeing 737 aircraft (Air Canada has more than 350 aircraft in total), stated last night (Friday) to Passport News in a joint response that: "It was brought to Air Canada's attention that the interactive map on its Boeing 737 aircraft did not consistently display the borders of countries in the Middle East, including the borders of the State of Israel, at all scaling levels. Air Canada's general policy is to only display city names on its aircraft maps, and the definition of this specific system did not conform to the company's policy.

Air Canada immediately disabled the map function. The company worked with Thales and a third-party supplier responsible for the map software to resolve the issue. An update to the software was developed, and it is now being installed on Air Canada's Boeing 737 aircraft to correct the issue and align the map with Air Canada's policy, as it is intended for the other aircraft in the fleet. Air Canada will begin updating the aircraft starting last night (Friday) March 14, and the map function will remain disabled until the update is completed.

Air Canada and Thales apologize for the distress caused by this situation".