I’d just like to point out that a gigantic issue with cost for travel in Canada is government created costs to airlines being much higher than in many countries. Air travel is viewed as a revenue source, not an asset to the country that should be made affordable.
The privatization of the airports has been a disaster from a cost standpoint, and there are a number of other reasons from a regulatory standpoint that makes operating in Canada much more expensive than many other countries, notably the U.S. its pretty easy to look at a ticket and see the AIF and security fees, then landing fees and nav can fees that aren’t listed out but paid by the airline. The leftover portion that the airline gets starts to look like a pretty attractive airfare in many cases.
Someone mentioned subsidizing service to small centres, that almost never occurs, and subsidies relate to individual markets offering backstop financing for a particular route, to get the airline to try it and reduce the risk if it is unsuccessful.
Most costs to operate in Canada are the same for any airline flying in here, however there are some (income and business taxes) that could be saved by having foreign airlines operate in Canada, but then the government would lose all that revenue, along with the jobs.
Feel free to hate on the airlines of course, but just be aware that the primary issues is fees, taxes, and charges based on government policy. Even then, I would argue whether the cost of high speed jet travel across the country really is “too high”…..what is a fair price for a highly capital and labour intensive, safety critical service worth?
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