You said they were low. Low relative to what? Are they higher than/in line with/lower than what people in the rest of the developed world pay for similar products?

I could care less about how the fares were relative to AC's cost structure. That's AC's problem. If AC's solution to that is to dump arguably the worst value-for-money proposition in the development (feel free to prove me wrong by listing the 'competition' for that ignominious distinction), then I stand by what I said. Perhaps we should just nationalize the airline and subsidize it.

That way, Canadian taxpayers won't be paying over the odds to line shareholders and executives pockets. And I suspect the cabin crew will get better working conditions too. I mean, if we are going to pay a premium for residing in Canada, maybe it is better for it go to public use than to a private entity that, through Rouge, has shown what one might reasonably interpret as contempt for Canadian air travelers. "Educating" customers, and all that.

As an aside, how do you have reasonably decent knowledge of average fares? Where does one acquire this type of information? I would certainly like to have a look at it, but I understand its proprietary information closely guarded by airlines.