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Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the transition from Georgian to Jazz Aviation was unrelated to the allegations.

“Air Georgian has performed safely and reliably for us for 20 years,” he told the Post via email. “The changes to our regional flying are purely a commercial decision.”

Georgian is proud to be one of nine Canadian airlines certified by the international airline association’s rigorous, 900-point operational safety audit, said Matthew Law, a lawyer for the company.

The changes to our regional flying are purely a commercial decision

“Safety is the cornerstone of Air Georgian’s business,” he said in a letter emailed to the Post. “Air Georgian has consistently achieved audit results that place it in the top tier of operators in Canada.”

If the Post publishes “unfounded speculation” about the company, “Air Georgian will not hesitate to take appropriate legal action,” Law warned.

The company said it does not expect the loss of this single contract to negatively impact its long-term business growth. “We are very well positioned in the marketplace, with a 25 year track record of superior safety, operational, and financial performance.”

A National Post investigation in late 2017 reported the concerns of several current and former crew members about Georgian’s safety approach, including allegations that it delayed fixing defective plane parts, discouraged reporting of problems and experienced an unusual number of emergency landings.

Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

In a report last spring, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) blamed a 2016 incident in Calgary — where a plane’s front landing gear failed to extend and the aircraft scraped along the runway — on longstanding failings, including inadequate maintenance procedures and training and internal systems that failed to detect potential maintenance problems.