Air Canada clears a major hurdle to its plans for an international low-cost airline
Over a year ago, Air Canada made noises about getting into the low-cost holiday-package market, but the proposal was stalled due to a lengthy labour dispute with its pilots. Now, after 19 months of negotiations, sick-ins and wildcat strikes, an arbitrator has ended that stand-off, selecting Air Canada’s final contract offer over that of the Air Canada Pilots Association. Explaining why he sided with the airline, arbitrator Douglas Stanley wrote that “Air Canada needs to establish a low-cost carrier to ensure its competitive future.” (The pilots were opposed to the plan because it could result in non-union members flying planes without consent from the union.) Now that that has been sorted out, how long until we can catch a cheap Air Canada flight to Varadero? [Globe and Mail]
What about Air Canada Jazz? It already exists, is owned by Air Canada and is a low cost airline.
Air Canada Jazz is a regional airline. The intention was for Air Canada to remain competitive in the international flights market.
Air Canada does NOT OWN Jazz. Jazz is a subsidiary of Chorus Aviation dba Air Canada Express. They have a service contract with AC. AC buys the seat capacity and sets the route schedule.
oh. air canada competitive? this is good news – i thought my tax dollars subsidised one of the worlds most mediocre airlines. its poetry that they are getting into the international market when they need protection to survive at home. lets see how this goes…
i concur that air canada does not own jazz. they sold all their shares in 2009 at the same time they sold all the aeroplan shares and each became their own company.
How will this impact those of us that fly private?
Many still have flights to these vacoaitn destinations. But until the economy improves, and there are signs it may be, flyers from smaller cities will just have to get creative if they want to see the world by