WestJet is looking forward to the opportunity to participate in public consultation regarding the draft regulations of the new passenger protection regulations announced Monday in Ottawa. The airline's perspective, however, is in contrast to that of the National Airlines of Canada who released a statement as well.
"As a company, taking care of our guests is central to our brand and fundamental to our business," said Mike McNaney, WestJet Vice-President, Industry, Corporate and Airport Affairs. "We are proud of our award-winning culture of care, and our guest service is a source of innovation and investment that has seen us recognized as the best airline in Canada for 2017 and 2018 based on reviews by the travelling public on TripAdvisor."
Said McNaney, "With over one million base fares in the market under $100, our upcoming 787 Dreamliner launch, and the launch of our ultra-low-cost carrier, Swoop, we are delivering for Canadians by lowering the cost of travel, increasing choice and competition and creating jobs in many key sectors of the economy."
TravelPulse Canada President John Kirk, who spent the bulk of his career in Aviation and Tour operator space, had this to say, "There is no clear winner as a result of the announcement released this week. Having spent a considerable amount of time with revenue management types I can assure you the airline will not feel any financial impact as a result of these changes. This is simply a new cost which will be forecasted out based on prior years performance."
"Once the financial exposure has been determined it will be passed on to the consumer just as any other new cost would be. Whether that ends up being two dollars or fifteen dollars per ticket remains to be seen. The truth is, at year end, should the cost which are forecasted fall short it will contribute to overall margin turning it into profit. " said Kirk.
"Perhaps a forensic view of Nav Canada's infrastructure investment should be evaluated as many aviation experts point the finger in that direction. This realisation should not come as a shock to anyone. If the rent or labour costs increase at your local grocer, guess what, that cost gets passed on to you," added Kirk.
"Some say Nav Canada has cancelled thousands of flights due to air traffic control issues causing constant delays. Additionally, they have not invested airport rental revenue and navigation fees into improving airport infrastructure across the country in several years and continue to add taxes and fees to airline tickets making Canada very uncompetitive vs other markets. Airport rent being charged for airports that have been paid for over and overburdens airlines with costs airports south of the border simply do not have."
Travel and Airline Executive, Lyell Farquharson weighed in on the issue. " This is an issue that the Government has not been willing to address in a meaningfully way for many years. We know that air travel and airports are economic stimulators. " said Farquharson "The Government has not supported that with their policy of rent, fees and taxes. The Government of Canada can be the real winner here if they reduce costs we know it will stimulate demand and the economic benefits will be significantly higher than the reduction of the fees and taxes that are added to each ticket today. This is a big opportunity that the Government needs to take advantage of, this will not only help Tourism but make us more competitive and global as a trading nation, and we all know we need that based on our recent NAFTA experience. "
But according to the National Airlines Council of Canada, whether the regulations reach their goal is very much an open question.
In a press release, the Council says that "First, today's hurried announcement produced only a backgrounder, meaning that a detailed assessment both in terms of costs, efficacy and unintended consequences will have to wait until the publication of the draft regulation on December 22nd. Second, while this process was meant to put an exclamation mark on Transport Minister Garneau's 2016 commitment to "greater choice, better service, lower costs, and new rights for [air] travellers" it has fallen short of what is needed."
Each day across Canada, some 350,000 people embark on a plane for one of the more than 15,000 flights that take off and land at Canadian airports. This involves the coordinated efforts of thousands of skilled, dedicated people working in airlines, airports, air traffic control, air security and border services, and even government policy-making.
The draft regulations will be released on Saturday, December 22.
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