[gabe]

Flair is the only one left and has lasted the longest. I hope they can stay alive but I know they are also in dire straits and loaded with debt to their eyeballs.

I am hoping Canada can keep one low cost carrier. We already have 3 mainline carriers, the two big boys and Porter who has done tremendously well and continues to eat into domestic and cross border market share.

The uncertainty with Flair is why I flew Porter last month. Porter was excellent! And the cost wasn't that much more than Flair. I met some people at the Victoria BC airport. They were flying Air Canada to Toronto, but they were stuck at the airport because their flight was delayed by 3 hours. They regretted not booking with Porter.

Air Canada is one of the worst in North America for flight delays. I will never fly Air Canada.

Air Canada lands last in on-time flights in ranking of North American airlines​

Canada's biggest carrier landed 63% of its flights on time in 2023​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-performance-on-time-1.7072663

 

[lead82]

We have no choice but to fly AC if you live out east or travel internationally. There are few choices especially if you want to fly direct. AC has its fault for delays but their frequency of service is hard to beat. This is where Porter and WestJet can’t compete. If I need to fly to a certain destination, say London from Toronto, AC has like 4-6 flights a day! Porter doesn’t fly there and WestJet may have one at best and if that’s delayed or canceled you need to wait a day at least.

 

[SubHuman]

Air Canada intends to transfer all of its Boeing 737 Max-8 planes over to Rouge, where they will eventually comprise the entire Rouge fleet.

 

[ShonTron]

Air Canada intends to transfer all of its Boeing 737 Max-8 planes over to Rouge, where they will eventually comprise the entire Rouge fleet.

Annoying that AC Rouge is a major intercity carrier, rather than a vacation-focused sub-brand.

 

[crs1026]

Any intel on whether AC will compress and dumb down the interiors to past Rouge standard ?

- Paul

 

[christiesplits]

Annoying that AC Rouge is a major intercity carrier, rather than a vacation-focused sub-brand.

What is the business case for this? I was surprised to see AC Rouge flying to Saskatoon, not exactly an all-inclusive beach resort.

 

[Admiral Beez]

We have no choice but to fly AC if you live out east or travel internationally.

For international travel there are almost always alternatives to AC. I'm flying to Taiwan soon and am looking forward to my first flight on EVA.

It's domestic travel where we're often stuck with Air Canada and its subs.

 

[ShonTron]

What is the business case for this? I was surprised to see AC Rouge flying to Saskatoon, not exactly an all-inclusive beach resort.

I don’t know! There are a couple of weird AC Rouge routes that make more sense as AC Express or mainline routes.

 

[JJTheJetPln]

What is the business case for this? I was surprised to see AC Rouge flying to Saskatoon, not exactly an all-inclusive beach resort.

I would have said competition with Sunwing, but we know what happened to Sunwing. Competition with Air Transat?

 

[christiesplits]

I would have said competition with Sunwing, but we know what happened to Sunwing. Competition with Air Transat?

I was referring to domestic Air Canada Rouge flights. For instance, Toronto<>Saskatoon and Toronto<>Deer Lake.

 

[JJTheJetPln]

I was referring to domestic Air Canada Rouge flights. For instance, Toronto<>Saskatoon and Toronto<>Deer Lake.

My bad. In this instance, the only thing I can think of is that Jazz / Air Georgian don't have the weight capacity, or they don't have the cabin space for the aircraft they're operating on behalf of Air Canada. I remember their daily flights, but I'm wondering if Air Canada is seeing an increase in domestic travel through specific hubs, and is trying to get as many people on flights during peak times to balance loads between Jazz and Air Canada.

 

[christiesplits]

WestJet gears up for summer growth after snapping up planes from defunct Lynx Air

WestJet gears up for summer growth after snapping up planes from defunct Lynx Air

MONTREAL - WestJet is gearing up for a major growth spurt this year, even as rival airlines limit their expansion plans.

www.thestar.com

Fueling that uptick are the nine planes previously leased by Lynx Air that WestJet snapped up last year after the discount carrier’s collapse.

The Boeing 737 Max 8s will allow WestJet to partly make up for delays on the roughly 60 Boeing jets it was expecting by 2028, but that are held up amid production issues.

 

[guavadelic]

The Competition Bureau concluded their probe and is recommending changes to Canada's airline industry to make it more competitive.

Competition watchdog calls for relaxed foreign ownership rules in airline industry report​

In a 117-page market study published Thursday, the watchdog reiterated that Canada's airline industry is highly concentrated with two major carriers — Air Canada and WestJet — dominating the domestic market.

Those airlines are competing less directly with each other than they did six years ago, the report said, with WestJet serving fewer domestic flyers at eastern airports, and Air Canada serving fewer domestic flyers at western airports

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canadian-airline-market-study-competition-bureau-1.7564582

One recommendation is to allow 100% foreign ownership of airlines that operate only domestically, while also letting individual international investors hold a larger share of voting interests in Canadian airlines, boosting the amount from 25 per cent to 49 per cent. Loosening these restrictions, according to the Bureau, will make it easier for newer, smaller airlines to access finances from different sources.

They also made further recommendation to boost air travel capacity in remote areas and limiting the Transport Minister's power to overide parts of the merger process of airlines.

​

 

[picard102]

This seems like a bad time to be calling for the government to relax rules on protecting Canadian industries from American money.

 

[dowlingm]

This seems like a bad time to be calling for the government to relax rules on protecting Canadian industries from American money.

any such relaxation should be on a reciprocal basis - if the investing airline is registered in a country which would not allow Canadian airlines to acquire >25pc, then they should be limited to the existing arrangement.