Air Canada announced Monday that its CEO, Michael Rousseau, will retire at the end of the year's third quarter after he faced heavy backlash for only delivering a condolence message about a collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport in English.

Rousseau came under scrutiny for the message because Canada has two official languages; French and English, and the Montreal-based airline is required to conduct services in both languages. 

The airline said its board of directors will evaluate candidates to succeed him on multiple factors, “including the ability to communicate in French,” and Rousseau apologized last week for his inability to speak French well.

“On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Mike for his many contributions to Air Canada as he progressed from Chief Financial Officer to Deputy CEO and then to CEO and Board member," Air Canada board chair Vagn Sørensen said in a statement. "We are grateful for the determined leadership he has provided not only in steering our company through the 2007-2008 financial crisis, COVID and other challenges, but also in capturing opportunities such as the acquisition of Aeroplan, in restoring the solvency of our pension plans and in advancing customer centricity and employee well-being priorities." 

Rousseau in his apology lamented last week that the backlash over delivering a condolence message in only English had distracted from the grief that the families of the two pilots who died in the crash were experiencing.

"As President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, it is my duty to support those affected by this tragedy," Rousseau said. "I am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the profound grief of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada’s employees, who have demonstrated outstanding professionalism despite the events of the past few days.

"Despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately, I am still unable to express myself adequately in French," he continued. "I sincerely apologize for this, but I am continuing my efforts to improve."

The apology and retirement come after an Air Canada Express jet and a firetruck collided at LaGuardia Airport earlier this month.

The fire truck was reportedly in the runway area responding to an incident on another flight and had been given clearance from air traffic control to cross that runway.

Dozens of the flight's 72 passengers and four crew members were injured in the collision.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.