REGIONAL AIR TRANSPORT
The two CEOs of
and Marie-Pierre McKenzie, Director of Sales and Customer Experience, discuss the needs of our members for predictability and consistency... At a good price.
We are reassured to see Pascan continuing the year with optimism. Pascan has already confirmed that it will maintain 6 flights / 7 days. The challenge of the last few years has been great, both for them and for the airline industry in general.
For Pascan in particular, like many of us, the Quebec company was caught up in COVID. For them, it was in the midst of a project to change their aircraft (PC12s and Jet Streams have finally switched to SAABs), a project that took 18 months to complete, and also caused a lot of headaches in terms of technical service quality - among other things. Now they can rely on "surplus" aircraft to compensate for technical problems.
The "On Time Performance" (OTP) we monitor, which was 80-85% before COVID, had dropped to 45-50%. It is now back at the same level as before COVID, and was even at 87% this week in Gaspé.
The challenge is to get people flying again, restore confidence, fill flights (get volume), which will breathe new life into the carriers... who will in turn be able to improve their business.
It remains essential to distinguish flights for tourists from the needs of the community in general, and business people in particular. We're hammering home this message.
We also need to stop comparing the low prices of Mtl-Paris flights, which are not comparable in terms of business models for various reasons (large aircraft, high volume, etc.). We maintain that the industry needs "affordable" flights, and this remains a major issue that we are currently working on.
Our Chambers continue to work with elected officials (including the leadership of Gaspé Mayor Daniel Côté) to ensure that Quebec adopts a real action plan on air transport, involving the federal government as well. Stéphane Sainte-Croix - member of the National Assembly for Gaspé - is on the case.
We look forward to seeing the progress of the Quebec government's work via the Standing Committee on Regional Air Transport, which includes regional carriers, UMQ, UMF and our Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec (FCCQ).
We're all lucky enough to agree on basic fundamentals.
The rest is to follow...
We are confident that good results are yet to come.
We won't give up!
