The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) is set to reduce a $790 fee meant to make airlines pay for air passenger complaints — after behind-the-scenes pressure from the airline industry and former transport minister Anita Anand, internal documents reveal.

Records obtained by Go Public under the Access to Information Act show airlines lobbied aggressively against the fee — and that Transport Canada and the then-transport minister echoed those concerns directly to the regulator, which is supposed to operate at arm's-length from government.

An air passenger advocate says the documents raise serious concerns about political interference and who the system is really designed to serve.

"The minister and Transport Canada have been promoting the airlines' private business interests — as opposed to the public interest," said Air Passenger Rights founder Gábor Lukács, who reviewed the documents. "That's reprehensible."