Tausi Insider

Canada imposes user fees on passengers and airlines that are higher than anywhere else, according to WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech. Photo illustration by the Globe and Mail /iStockPhoto / Getty Images Alexis von Hoensbroech’s airline career has spanned the globe and beyond. The new WestJet Airlines Ltd. chief executive has worked in the business in Asia and Europe, moving people and cargo in the world’s most dense and competitive markets. Before that, he obtained a doctorate at a German school that focuses on astrophysics, the galaxy and the skies above. But it was in Canada, where Mr. Hoensbroech, 52, took the helm at Calgary-based WestJet in February, that he made a surprising discovery: A vast country highly dependent on air travel imposes user fees on passengers and airlines that are out of this world. “I don’t know a single country in the world that’s as expensive as Canada. Landing fees, gate fees – this is far, far, far more expensive than any other country,” he said. Ale...

Canada’s urban areas experienced their strongest population growth in at least two decades, rebounding from a weak expansion during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the year ending July 1, 2022, the country’s census metropolitan areas (CMAs) grew 2.1 per cent or by 574,000 people, according to Statistics Canada estimates published on Wednesday. That was the strongest pace of growth in figures that go back to the early 2000s. It was a comeback of sorts for urban regions, which had grown just 0.5 per cent the previous year, lagging the increase in rural areas. The pandemic and accompanying border restrictions led to a dramatic decline in immigration, while others decamped to smaller communities. Immigration to Canada hits record high in 2022 But the demise of the city, as some commentators had predicted, does not bear out in Wednesday’s report. As COVID-19 restrictions have eased, immigration has surged to record levels, helping to drive most of the population growth in ...

A Flair Airlines plane takes off from Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., on Oct. 28, 2022. Bayne Stanley/The Canadian Press With their promise of cheaper fares and no unnecessary frills, a flurry of so-called discount airlines has burst onto the Canadian scene in the last few years. But experts say the low-cost airline model is exacerbating an already existing pilot shortage that could become an even bigger problem for this country’s aviation industry in the years to come. Start-up discount airlines – such as Edmonton-based Flair Airlines, Calgary-based Lynx, and WestJet subsidiary Swoop – have been rapidly expanding across Canada since the COVID-19 pandemic, gambling that there’s enough pent-up demand from budget-conscious travellers to support additional capacity. While each operates slightly differently, the basic premise of a low-cost airline is that travellers receive stripped-down service in exchange for low basic fares. Things like carry-on and checked bags, s...

Travellers wait in line at a Sunwing Airlines check-in desk at Trudeau Airport in Montreal, Wednesday, April 20, 2022. Sunwing airlines has reduced its flight schedules from three airports in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press Sunwing airlines has reduced its flight schedules from three airports in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Tiffany Chase with the Halifax International Airport Authority confirmed Sunday that Sunwing cancelled its plans to launch once-weekly flights in February from Halifax to Orlando, Fla., and to Cayo Largo del Sur, Cuba. She says a twice-weekly flight to Varadero, Cuba, set to begin in February will be reduced to once a week. Courtney Burns, president of the Greater Moncton International Airport Authority, says the airline has cancelled one of two weekly flights from Moncton to Varadero, which were planned to run from mid-February until mid-May. Burns said the airline will rebook those affected on an...