bcflyer:
Porter is not making money out of YTZ. They have yet to turn a profit and have a load factor barely over %50.
You're right, sorry, I should have checked my figures. My point, however, remains. Even flying their planes only half full, operating out of an airport abandoned by AC, was Porter's business that threatening to warrant Air Canada fighting to operate out of YTZ again and trying to kill Porter? That's bully tactics. Emirates flying to Australia may have halted some service from other int'l carriers flying there, but here Air Canada is cannibalizing its own domestic competition. At the end of the day, money talks and businesses are ruthless.
YYZ is the most expensive airport in the world to operate from. Have you looked at the NAVCANADA fees to operate in Canadian Airspace?
Exactly! That's a problem. Is YYZ still trying to recover the airport redevelopment cost from 05/06? Landing here is unattractive to all airlines, yet they keep coming for all the traffic. There are options that can make YYZ a massive, attractive, money making hub. The market here is so lucrative.
The IFE at Air Canada has a slightly smaller screen and no interactive games but I would hardly call it "seriously behind" its competion. It still has hours of movies, TV shows, and music all of which can be started, stopped, rewound to your hearts content.
Ok I was exaggerating a bit. I'd love to fast forward, too bad the little arrow pointer is never calibrated, zing! In my last 5 or 6 flights on Air Canada, the in-flight map did not work, more an annoyance. Selling headphones to make a few bucks looks cheap for a flag carrier airline. On long haul flights, the food/service is no match to EY. Based on that experience, I would fly EY again, even if AUH itself needs to improve. It's the market deciding for itself.
As for you PIA comments.. They are not pushing for more slots in Canada and they certainly aren't resorting to the kind of political BS that is currently going on.
Context please. I responded with the PIA example to the Ottawa Citizen piece, which said that the UAE should disprove connections to terrorism, implying that should be a factor in giving Canadian airspace rights to EK and EY. If that's the case, PIA would have a hard time defending itself, and by that author's logic, PIA should be banned from using our airspace.
Regarding the labour, yes the labour laws are vastly different. The UAE's (and developing world in general) labour laws are what they are: unfair and with little respect for people. But people from E.Europe and S.Asia go to the M.East in droves, they have their reasons but that's a whole other topic.
Neither AC nor EK/EY are making it a secret that the battle is about connecting traffic. Obviously there is enough capacity right now for point-to-point between Canada and UAE. But why not let the consumer decide? Isn't it interesting that despite AC or its Star Alliance partners offerings through Europe, Emirates still flies with almost full A380s while charging much higher ticket prices? As a passenger to India, I would prefer one long flight to AUH or DXB and then a quick hop to any number of destinations with excellent frequency. You must admit that the UAE is geographically the perfect hub for India traffic.
That Toronto Star opinion piece is as 'balanced' as the Citizen's, but raises good points, especially the earlier proposed AC-EK alliance. Again I don't buy Emirates' claims of instant job creation, but I think they should do some investment in Canadian aviation infrastructure in exchange for such a lucrative market.
Numbers can be twisted to show whatever you want.
100% agree. Remember it goes both ways. AC and the gov't think daily flights from the UAE will affect "literally tens of thousands of jobs in Canada." Really? Break down that vague figure for me please.
As much as I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt to the Canadian Gov't, the Conservatives in power have disappointed non-stop on domestic and international issues. Here's the latest:
Harper questions the UAE as an ally, UAE wants apology. This is not diplomacy. How does Harper have the gall to question the UAE as an ally after the complete failure of his government to act with any decency following the Dubai assassination?
As before, I maintain that the UAE and Canada can negotiate something mutually beneficial, and Canadians flying there and onwards would quickly realize the benefits. But as things stand, and by the way they're going, this mess is only going to degrade relations further.
Oh by the way, a follow up to my first post: Canadians are also screwed daily by the telecom duopoly that exists here.