ALPA Canada Responds to Competition Bureau Report
Bureau Releases Report on Competition in Canada’s Airline Industry
OTTAWA, ONT.—Captain Tim Perry, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) Canada, issued the following statement yesterday after the Competition Bureau released their report “Cleared for take-off: Elevating airline competition,” which makes recommendations to the government on creating what it believes are the right conditions for competition in Canada’s airline industry.
“Unfortunately, the Bureau’s focus on prioritizing competition within Canadian aviation policy is far too narrow in scope to take into consideration the broader realities and existing challenges of Canada’s aviation sector. Furthermore, competition is not a synonym for affordable air travel. We believe that Canada’s resources should be directed at pursuing the policies with a real chance of strengthening our airlines for the benefit of the Canadian economy and its passengers.
“The Bureau’s recommendation to work with other countries to remove foreign competition restrictions to allow for foreign airlines to fly domestic service within Canada, known as cabotage, is a lose-lose proposition that sells out Canadians by forfeiting the air sovereignty that connects our country and exports many of the benefits of Canadian-owned and operated enterprises. Such a scheme would enable foreign airlines to cherry-pick money-generating routes at the expense of less profitable regional connections that bind our country and are the backbone of the Canadian economy.
“ALPA Canada strongly believes that permitting foreign airlines to conduct cabotage operations in Canada—in any way, shape, or form—is impractical, unwise, and places Canadian carriers at a competitive disadvantage while displacing Canadian workers from high value jobs. Canadians must see this report for what it’s doing: undermining Canadian jobs, businesses, and our fundamentally shared national interests.”
Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents more than 79,000 pilots at 42 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit ALPA.org or follow us on Twitter @ALPAPilots.
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CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703-481-4440 or Media@alpa.org
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