Stocks in play: Air Transat
Is strengthening its annual transatlantic network by extending its routes to Bordeaux (BOD) and Valencia (VLC) for the winter of 2025-2026. Previously offered only during the summer, these exclusive routes will now operate from February with a weekly non-stop flight from Montréal-Trudeau (YUL) aboard an Airbus A321LR. Air Transat shares T.TRZ are trading unchanged at $1.70.
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CBC
12 hours ago
- CBC
If air passengers don't pay fees, Canadian taxpayers will, experts respond to WestJet CEO
A speech by WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech is reigniting the conversation about air travel costs in Canada — a conversation he stands to benefit from more than Canadians do, some experts say. Speaking to a business audience in Calgary Tuesday, von Hoensbroech compared extra air ticket fees in Canada and the United States in a slide presentation and called on the federal government to reduce those fees. According to von Hoensbroech, in Canada, sales tax, navigation fees, airport improvement fees and security fees amounted to $133 in a round-trip ticket price, whereas south of the border the excise tax and segment fee, passenger facility charge and security fee added up to $49. "If the government wants to unite Canada and take down internal trade barriers, then reducing the cost of air travel by reducing fees that are imposed on air travel and ultimately make tickets cheaper would be the right thing to do," von Hoensbroech told reporters, according to the Canadian Press. But two air travel experts point out that what von Hoensbroech didn't say is who he believes should pick up the tab for those costs. "He's really looking at just one side of the equation," said John Gradek, an aviation management lecturer at McGill University. "If the charges aren't levied against the passenger, who's going to pay?" 'No such thing as free lunch' Gabor Lukacs, who founded and runs an air passenger advocacy group, called von Hoensbroech's statements "populist" and echoed Gradek. "I'm sure he know as much as anybody else in business: there's no such thing as free lunch." Lukacs said. "Someone has to pay for the airports, someone has to pay for security.… Where is the money going to come from?" In his speech, the CEO questioned why transport infrastructure like bridges, passenger rail and ferries get federal support, while the government imposes a host of costs on the airline industry that are then passed along to consumers. "We need to build Canada — now even more than in the past — and aviation plays a key role," he said. Gradek said von Hoensbroech seemed to suggest Canadian taxpayers be charged for airport infrastructure costs, security and air traffic control. He says that while he agrees air travel costs are high in Canada, much of that has to do with the small size of our population in relation to our large land mass, and our choice to deregulate the industry in the 1980s. Smaller communities left behind Many small, remote communities rely on air travel that is hardly serviced by larger carriers like WestJet, which in fact dramatically reduced its regional services during the pandemic in favour of high-density markets, such as Calgary-Toronto and Vancouver-Montreal. Flights to and from northern communities, for example, are often prohibitively expensive, Gradek says. "They just charge what they want to charge," he said. "To me, we're considering the population north of [the 50th parallel] as second-class citizens." Gradek believes that if large carriers want to offset costs onto taxpayers in order to be able to offer lower prices, they should also have an obligation to service regional areas at low costs as well. "If it wasn't for air service, you wouldn't have a country," Gradek said, agreeing with von Hoensbroech that air travel is essential to Canada. But adds that, "if you're going to have that type of philosophy and that type of mindset, that you need to have some oversight to make sure that the decisions being made by the private sector … provide services to all Canadians on a fair and equal footing." WATCH | WestJet CEO criticizes union for mechanics strike action: WestJet CEO criticizes union for strike action 11 months ago Duration 1:50 Gradek says deregulation of the airline industry in Canada has ended up concentrating the power among few large carriers, who have chosen — for business reasons — to focus on big cities rather than regional transport, which has in turn resulted in less competition among companies. The federal government in 2018 increased the percentage of foreign shareholder value Canadian airline companies could sell from 25 per cent to 29 per cent (the U.S. has a similar policy) to stimulate lower-cost airlines, but low-budget airlines have struggled to stay afloat. More competition solution to passenger woes? Ottawa resident Melissa Cummings was stranded an extra five days at her resort near Cancun, Mexico for an extra five days in 2023 — sometimes having to sleep on a bench because the hotel didn't have rooms when Sunwing failed to pick her up at a convened time. Though she was compensated $500, she reckons the whole ordeal wound up setting her back nearly $3,000 in extra costs. "I have no clue to this day why I was stranded," Cummings said. She believes more competition among airlines could help force companies to be more accountable to their passengers, and lower costs. The 45-year-old and her daughter, who is in university, have a tradition of taking a five-day trip together every year. She says that while the pair haven't to explore Canada more, they usually opt for a destination in South America with Latin American airlines because flights are cheaper. "We have such a beautiful country. My my daughter moved to Canada when she was 8. She's going to be 21 and she's hardly seen our country," Cummings said. Lukacs says the federal government should be the one stepping up when it comes to enforcing passenger rights, but he agrees that "increasing competition — that's very, very important and pressing." WestJet calls for review Increasing competition does not appear to have been among the solutions proposed by WestJet CEO von Hoensbroech. In response to a request for comment, WestJet spokesperson Josh Yeats said, "Alexis's comments yesterday were aimed at helping to draw attention to the fact that Canada is one of the most expensive places in the world to operate an airline." Yeats did not say whether von Hoensbroech is calling for taxpayers to foot costs but that the company would like to see a review of airline regulations in Canada.
National Post
18 hours ago
- National Post
Quebec residential construction workers have walked off the job
Article content MONTREAL — Workers in Quebec's residential construction sector are now on strike. Article content Article content The workers walked off the job at midnight after last-minute talks failed to yield a deal. Article content The employer, the Association des professionnels de la construction et de l'habitation du Quebec, said it made a final offer on Tuesday that included an 18 per cent salary hike over four years. Article content Article content Article content
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
WestJet CEO says reducing industry costs would help foster national unity
The chief executive of WestJet Group says the federal government should not treat air travel as a luxury in a country as vast as Canada and reducing costs to the industry would help foster national unity. In a speech to a Calgary business audience, Alexis von Hoensbroech questioned why transport infrastructure like bridges, passenger rail and ferries get federal support, while the government imposes a host of costs on the airline industry that are then passed along to consumers. "We need to build Canada — now even more than in the past — and aviation plays a key role," he said Tuesday. Von Hoensbroech quipped that his address had to compete for attention with the throne speech delivered on the same day by King Charles in Ottawa, which set out the Liberal government's legislative agenda. "But the King actually said today, 'The government is guided by conviction that the economy is only truly strong when it serves everyone,' and many, many Canadians are struggling to get ahead," von Hoensbroech said. His presentation included a slide comparing government-imposed costs in Canada versus the United States. In Canada, sales tax, navigation fees, airport improvement fees and security fees amounted to $133 in a round-trip ticket price, whereas south of the border the excise tax and segment fee, passenger facility charge and security fee added up to $49. He said it's "fundamentally wrong" that air travel is not treated as essential in a country where it's the only connection to the outside world in many communities. "If the government wants to unite Canada and take down internal trade barriers, then reducing the cost of air travel by reducing fees that are imposed on air travel and ultimately make tickets cheaper would be the right thing to do," von Hoensbroech told reporters. "Right now, there are millions of Canadians that cannot afford an air ticket, and a lot of this is because of the infrastructure costs and fees and charges are so high, and so much higher than in most other countries." Von Hoensbroech's remarks follow calls from several business leaders in recent months to reduce internal trade barriers and expand Canada's international reach as the U.S. becomes an increasingly unreliable trading partner. In a backlash against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and expressed desire to make Canada the "51st state" and treatment of marginalized groups, many Canadians have cancelled trips and booked flights to spots outside America over the past five months. The WestJet CEO said bookings into the next couple of months suggest Canadians' cross-border travel on the airline is down in the "mid-to-high-teens percentage points" compared to last year, but that traffic is shifting to Europe and the Caribbean. Rival airline Air Canada said in an email Monday it will suspend three more U.S.-Canada routes — Toronto-Indianapolis, Montreal-Detroit and Montreal-Minneapolis — starting this fall for "commercial" reasons. The cuts come after the country's largest carrier in March reduced flights by 10 per cent to Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona — usually go-to hot spots during spring break season. Competitors Flair Airlines and Air Transat have made similar moves. Last month, the number of Canadians returning home by air from the United States dropped 20 per cent compared with April 2024, according to Statistics Canada. The number of American plane visitors to Canada fell 5.5 per cent. Trump has in recent weeks tamped down his Canadian annexation talk and he seemed to strike a genial tone during an Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this month. Von Hoensbroech said his airline is already seeing signs the U.S. market is picking up a bit. "What we have seen in the past in our industry is that whenever there's a change in demand patterns for political reasons, it's usually transitional and long-term demand trends usually flow back to where they were in the past," he said.
