by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 1:15 PM ET, Fri May 30, 2025
Flying domestically in Canada is expensive. It isn’t rare to find someone who, when faced with an Edmonton-Victoria flight that costs the same as a flight to London, U.K. opts to go international.
WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech recently addressed the matter at a Calgary business lunch, calling on the government to reduce fees and taxes passengers must pay on airfare. He pointed out that transport infrastructure like bridges, passenger rail and ferries get federal support.
In his speech, von Hoensbroech showed that Canadian fees can be more than double those in America, where flying is generally more affordable. The expense puts the cost of flying out of reach for many Canadians and he suggested that reducing it would be a good step towards increasing national unity.
"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 The Canadian Press.
The fees are used to pay for airport infrastructure costs, security and air traffic control. They are expenses that must be paid, and as one expert points out, if air passengers aren’t paying for them, who will? Should the costs be borne by taxpayers?
As John Gradek, an aviation management lecturer at McGill University puts it, "If the charges aren't levied against the passenger, who's going to pay?"
Gradek told the CBC much of the high cost of flying here 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.
According to the CBC report, 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.”
Gradek agrees that air travel is essential in Canada, particularly linking isolated Northern communities. "If it wasn't for air service, you wouldn't have a country," Gradek said. "If you're going to have that type of philosophy and that type of mindset, than 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."
The Fraser Institute, traditionally no fan of government interventions, has also indicated it feels air travel fees are exorbitant. In its “Clearing the Runways” study, the right-leaning think-tank suggests ways that could drive Canadian air travel costs down, including removing cabotage restrictions (which would allow non-Canadian airlines to operate domestically) and privatizing airports — a suggestion that has been met with criticism.
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