I gleaned this from part of a Montreal Gazette story posted on another thread.

"Air Canada executives seem almost drunk on the success of Tango, a low-cost brand launched last November that offers long-haul flights.

Robert Milton, Air Canada chief executive, has called it one of the most successful brand launches in aviation history.

Yesterday, Rovinescu came back to the topic of Tango again and again.

He said Air Canada has pared down Tango's costs by at least 25 per cent compared with its full-service mainline and Tango planes were 80 per cent full in January and February.

At the same time, Air Canada's mainline is bleeding 10 to 11 per cent of its passengers to Tango, according to Rovinescu, meaning in the end Air Canada is "way ahead of the game."

But some industry watchers remain convinced the cannibalization is more pronounced.

Jacques Roy, a transport management specialist at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales, said it's dangerous for Air Canada to dive head-first into the discount market just because there's a need and they want to satisfy it. He said he doesn't believe the airline has the cost structure that will allow it to succeed.

Their seat revenues are going down, they have regular passengers going to Tango and those people are paying less. That's not a winning strategy"

The question is: Are travellers better off since the creation of Tango?