With Few Discount Airlines, Canadian Travelers Face Steeper Fares
Against a backdrop of threats and insults from President Trump, Canadians have made a point of displaying national pride by shunning cross-border travel to the United States in favor of domestic tourism.
But as many Canadians will tell you, flying within the country tends to be prohibitively expensive.
The airfare from Toronto to Vancouver can often cost around the same as a ticket to Mexico or Europe, enough to nudge many would-be domestic tourists toward international travel. That was among the responses 1,500 people shared with the Competition Bureau during a yearlong study of Canada's airline market, the results of which were released on Thursday.
Air Canada, the top carrier, and WestJet Airlines, the next biggest, make up the largest share of domestic air traffic.
'The level of concentration in the industry means that on many routes, travelers have limited choice and pay higher fares than they might in a more competitive environment,' Anthony Durocher, a deputy commissioner at the bureau, said during a briefing with reporters. 'Our analysis clearly shows that added competition brings important benefits.'
Among those benefits are reductions in fares of up to 9 percent when new carriers enter the market, Mr. Durocher said, though he noted that those companies had found little success.
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