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Air Canada has issued an apology after discovering that some of its aircraft displayed maps omitting Israel, instead listing it as "Palestinian territory." The incident occurred on the navigation map system, part of the in-flight entertainment (IFE) system, of its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
The issue was discovered by a passenger who reported it to the airline. Air Canada confirmed that the defect affects 40 Boeing 737s out of a total of 43 MAX aircraft in the airline's fleet of over 350 planes.
Air Canada is Canada's largest airline and its national airline.
The IFE systems on these aircraft are supplied by the French aerospace technology group Thales. In a joint statement to CNN on March 13, Air Canada and Thales said the issue had been resolved.
“The airline has received feedback that the interactive maps on Boeing 737 aircraft are not accurately depicting the boundaries of certain areas in the Middle East, including Israel, at all display levels,” the statement said, while apologizing for any inconvenience caused. “In accordance with Air Canada’s general policy, in-flight maps only display city names, and the display on this system does not comply with that policy.”
Upon discovering the issue, Air Canada temporarily disabled the map function on the affected aircraft and worked with Thales and the map provider to update the system. The new map version was installed on the fleet starting March 14th.
In a separate statement, Thales asserted that the controversial map was provided by a third party. The map displayed on the system was produced by an external company that collaborates with Thales; however, the identity of this company has not been disclosed.
Thales claims the controversial map was provided by a third party.
Notably, this incident occurred amidst escalating tensions between Israel and Palestine, with the risk of conflict escalation and a serious humanitarian crisis. On the night of March 17th, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip was broken when Israel launched airstrikes across the area, killing more than 320 Palestinians, including many women and children.
This is not the first time maps on airline entertainment systems have caused sensitive issues regarding Israeli territory. In 2024, JetBlue also had to apologize after a similar incident. The airline stated that it had switched to a new map provider and requested the previous provider to adjust the map to conform to maps recognized by the US government. Prior to that, in 2018, SWISS confirmed that it had implemented a policy of turning off all map systems when aircraft were preparing to land in Tel Aviv (Israel) to avoid related controversies.
This is not the first time maps on airline entertainment systems have caused sensitive issues regarding Israeli territory.
