1. Québecair, now part of Inter-Canadian is thirty-five percent owned by PWA Corporation of Calgary, parent company of Canadian Airlines International, and is a "Canadian Partner". All of the other regional carriers have been fully integrated into Canadian Airlines.

  2. Condit, supra, note 20, p. 202 Undoubtedly these carriers had a commitment to their respective regions that was unmatched by Air Canada.

  3. Even as late as 1979, Air Canada was larger than all the other scheduled carriers in Canada combined. By keeping the regional airlines in their respective areas of the country, and yet at the same time preventing Canadian Pacific Air Lines from expanding aggressively into 'regional' territory, the policy helped to affirm the dominance of Air Canada within the Canadian airline industry and preclude the emergence of serious competition. See also Part X B) of this paper, and note 216, infra.

  4. Roy, supra, note 115, p. 6.

  5. Condit, supra, note 20, p. 199.

  6. Roy, supra, note 115,, p. 6.

  7. This access was via Transair's Winnipeg-Thunder Bay-Toronto route, granted by Don Jamieson in 1969, in spite of Air Canada's fierce opposition. Access to the city of Toronto tended to play a major rôle in an airlines fortunes. See Part IX) B) of this paper.

  8. Roy, supra, note 115, p. 6.

  9. Schultz, supra, note 23, p. 46.
  10. For example, Winnipeg-Thunder Bay, Halifax-Sydney, or Calgary-Saskatoon.
  11. Desmarais, Jack, "Ready, Willing and Able", Canadian Aviation, November 1981, p. 32, suggests that Air Canada was told by Ottawa to "pull its punches" when 'competing' with Eastern Provincial Airways on the Halifax-Sydney run. "Competition if necessary but not necessarily competition".

  12. For example in 1982, Eastern Provincial Airlines set up a 'Hub and Spoke' operation in Halifax in an effort to match Air Canada's direct service from regional centres to Central Canada. See Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited Annual Report 1982, p.10.

  13. Stevenson, supra, note 14, pp. 86-87.

  14. ibid, p. 69. The policy was announced in a press release, October 20, 1966. Literally minutes earlier that day, Pacific Western Airlines had decided to order the Boeing 737 with the result that the airline took delivery of the aircraft November 26, 1968, the day before Nordair registered its first 737. Eastern Provincial followed suit almost exactly a year later, registering its first 737 on November 25, 1969. Both Transair and Québecair obtained their first jets in 1970, a 737 and a BAC 111, respectively. See Bain, supra, note 22, p 123, and Condit, supra, note 20, pp. 200-204.

  15. Condit, ibid, p. 201

  16. Roy, supra, note 115, p. 7. All regional carriers were using jets by 1970. Today, the cycle is repeating itself. Air Canada, Canadian and Wardair are all-jet carriers, but two of Air Canada's "Connectors", Air B.C., and Air Ontario, and two of Canadian's "Partners", Time Air, and Inter-Canadian, are already starting to use jets.

  17. Purdy, H.L., Transport Competition and Public Policy in Canada, University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 1972, p. 44. Canadian Pacific Air Lines was all-jet by 1969.

  18. Collins, supra, note 36, p. 85.

  19. Stevenson, supra,note 14, p. 66.

  20. Roy, supra, note 115, p. 1.

  21. It is perhaps noteworthy that when Canadian Airlines International picked a name for its charter operation in 1987, it picked "Treasure Tours," formerly the name of Nordair's tour division.

  22. Canadian Aviation, June 1977, p. 28. At the time charters accounted for forty percent of Québecair's revenue.

  23. Dubois, supra, note 116, p. 36. In fact, in 1978 Québecair derived only forty percent of its revenue from scheduled passenger operations, and Nordair earned only fifty-six percent of its revenues from that source in 1980. See Roy, supra, note 115, p. 130.

  24. Reschenthaler, and Stanbury, supra, note 80. Unfortunately, this recommendation would have had the effect of prohibiting Canadian Pacific Air Lines from expanding further unless the route which it desired was only served by Air Canada. At the time, the recommendation made sense; Air Canada, having a large number of monopoly routes, but as regional carriers started service on more and more of these routes, Canadian Pacific Air Lines would have found itself with a decreasing amount of flexibility.

  25. Stevenson, supra, note 14, pp. 74-78.

  26. An article in the September 1985 edition of Canadian Aviation at p. 48, was entitled, "How goes Toronto, so goes Air Canada". The quote might as well read "How goes Toronto, so goes the country." Over the years, every one of Canada's regional airlines has fought or tried to trick its way into Toronto International Airport. See notes 113, (Québecair), 114, (Nordair), 115, (Pacific Western Airlines-Transair), 170, (Transair), Part VII B) (Eastern Provincial Airways), and Part IX B) 2), (Pacific Western Airlines).

  27. Roy, supra, note 115, p. 7. Transair, of course, no longer existed. The carrier was bought in 1977 by Pacific Western Airlines in 1977 and fully merged with that carrier by August 9, 1979. See Roy, and Cofsky, supra, note14, ibid. By April 27 1980, that carrier's flights were flown under the Pacific Western banner and the name 'Transair' disappeared.

  28. Canadian Pacific Air Lines Empress, May-June 1984 "Canadian Pacific Air Lines Report" p. 7. Of course since that time a number of airlines worldwide have concentrated their route systems on a "Hub and Spoke" principle, which requires being able to serve the "hub" airport from as many points as possible.

  29. These are the Air Canada-Transair skirmish over the Winnipeg-Thunder Bay- Toronto route in 1971, after which the loser, Air Canada, "promised to get tougher with the regionals", (See Canadian Aviation, September 1971, p. 20., and note 170, supra ) and the fierce Canadian Pacific Air Lines-Eastern Provincial Airlines battle over Halifax-Toronto in 1980 after which the loser Canadian Pacific Air Lines subsequently acquired the winning Eastern Provincial Airways. (See Part VII B) of this paper).

  30. Purdy, supra, note180, p. 46. and Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited Annual Report 1982, p.9.
  31. Canadian Aviation, November 1981, p. 38. It is quite amusing to observe the very different developments on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border at the time. In Canada, Pacific Western Airlines was being forced to fight an arbitrary line which foiled its plans to serve the country via Toronto. In the U.S., Minneapolis-based North Central Airlines had, on July 1st, 1979, merged with Atlanta-based Southern Airways to form Republic Airlines which in turn had bought San Francisco- based Hughes Airwest for $38.5 million on October 1st, 1980. The three American regional airlines were forging a nationwide network by merging, a technique which would not be permitted in Canada until 1984. See note 140 supra, and related text.
  32. Reschenthaler, and Stanbury, supra, note80, p. 213.

  33. See Canadian Aviation, January, 1980, p. 4. Editor Hugh Whittington felt that it was not merely coincidence that Pacific Western Airlines, owned by the provincial government of Alberta, got its break at a time when the country's Prime Minister, and Minister of Transport were both Albertans of the same political party (Progressive Conservative) as that of the Alberta provincial government.

  34. Canadian Aviation, March 1980, p. 6.

  35. When the route was awarded, a lot of observers felt that Pacific Western Airlines would switch quickly to another route, once the entry to Toronto had been obtained but to the credit of that airline and its successor, Canadian Airlines International, the company provided Calgary- Toronto service via Brandon and later via an additional stop in Thunder Bay until May 1st 1988.

  36. House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Ninth Report, Domestic Air Carrier Policy, March 23rd issue 55. Maurice Dionne Chairman. 1982, p. 11. It is noteworthy that in each case, Toronto is the city to which access was sought.

  37. The approximate range of the Boeing 737 jet, then in use by all of Canada's airlines except Air Canada.

  38. House of Commons, supra, note198, pp. 30- 31.

  39. Service on the routes started February 17, April 28, and April 28, 1985 respectively.
Main Text
Table of Contents
© 1989 P. Paul Fitzgerald