“Competition does make us stronger in several ways, it forces companies to put their best foot forward” Mark Nasr, President Aeroplan, EVP Marketing & Digital Air Canada told TravelPulse Canada’s John Kirk in a chat at the AC offices in downtown Toronto.
It’s one of the many topics discussed in an insightful conversation that goes more in depth into the airline competition in Canada and for suppliers, which Nasr ways is “unfortunately, not a positive story.” Nasr says that Canada has some of the highest infrastructure costs in the world and as widely documented, very high airport taxes that mixed with a large country with relatively few people in it, affect the cost of airline tickets in Canada.
Nasr and Kirk discuss what our industry can do beyond looking at competition between airlines, but in a broader sense, what the appropriate authorities can do to help create a more dynamic and effective ecosystem so that there can be more reasonable costs for travellers.
Nasr also discusses Air Canada’s recent NDC upgrade with a special message to travel agents:
Thank you very much to the entire community, from the beginning we’ve said this will be a change management process. Thank you for your patience and commitment and know you have the same from Air Canada.”