More expensive to go to Gaspé to Beijing

Photo: Martin Knight
The ticket prices remain very high in the regions of Quebec. Here, a plane from Air Canada Express landing Monday in Dorval from Sept-Îles.

Stephanie Gendron

Tuesday, 23 January 2018 00:00

UPDATE
Tuesday, 23 January 2018 00:00

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The price of the plane tickets is so high in Quebec that travel between Montreal and Gaspé is more expensive than the Montreal-Beijing. A non-sense for travelers to regions that do not have a lot of solutions to move to larger centres.

“(…) If you want to go and spend a week end with your blonde to Quebec, it cost more expensive, than to go to the South. “
– Steve Guillemette, Sept-Îles

The plane is too expensive, the bus takes too much time, the train does not go everywhere and not often enough. Solutions to move from remote areas to Montreal or Quebec city without a car are few and expensive.

According to the mayor of Gaspé, Daniel Côté, the people are climbs of milk every day on Facebook about the price of plane tickets who have no common sense “, he says.

Photo Emy-Jane Déry

Steve Guillemette, president of the Group G7, regularly
at the airport in Sept-Îles to take a plane to Montreal. It is ridiculous to have to pay
too expensive for plane tickets.

“In business, it is necessary to be competitive. It is unfair to pay as much. Not just for business people or for other users. If you want to go spend a weekend with your blonde to Quebec, it cost more expensive, than to go to the south. I went to Florida from Montreal last year, it cost me 480 $ to go back, ” says Steve Guillemette, president of the Group G7, a general contractor in Sept-Îles.

Illogical

For example, for the 10 January, a round-trip ticket from Montreal to Gaspé was 950 $, then they had to pay 681 $ to get to Beijing from Montreal.

Air Canada is said to have recently introduced new tariffs. Now, if you reserve in advance, the ticket prices are reduced. Isabelle Arthur, head of main service – media Relations at Air Canada, it also indicates that the company regularly discusses with the government for the implementation of policies.

A situation that is illogical in the eyes of the entrepreneurs of the regions of the province.

“The incentive has been put in place if you reserve your plane tickets in advance, but in business, it doesn’t work for us “, says Martin Boulay, president of the Ohmega to Gaspé.

The crux of the problem would be the lack of competition in Quebec.

Air Canada has the monopoly in several places. And where there is competition, small players who are opposed do not manage to face him, and remain in the shade.

David Howells Courtesy

Isabelle Dostaler, associate dean of the faculty of administration at the University
Memorial of Saint-Jean-Newfoundland

Small markets

“The limited size of the markets does not allow the survival of a sufficient number of competitors to exert downward pressure on prices,” writes the specialist Isabelle Dostaler, associate dean of the faculty of business administration Memorial University of St John Newfoundland, in a paper on the challenges and opportunities of the regional air transport.

The paper is intended to stimulate a discussion of consultations carried out by the government on the subject.

“The reverse effect is also possible : the pricing is perceived to be high in the region may be the cause of the weakness of the demand,” she continued.