Originally Posted by
CaptainEKAirbus
It seemed to me that one of the primary concerns surrounding the competition of Emirates entering the Canadian market was the worry that yields would fall, and that certain routes wouldn't be feasible to operate. It was also mentioned that Air Canada wouldn't have have been able to economically serve the key markets that Emirates would be connecting traffic to/from, ie. the Indian subcontinent.
However now, the Dreamliner has entered Air Canada's fleet, the airline is profitable, routes are now being started to Delhi and Dubai, and Air Canada's low cost carrier Rouge is making many once uneconomical routes, economical for Air Canada.
It seems to be pretty evident that it would be almost a no-brainer for Canada to increase the number of frequencies allowed to Emirates/Etihad, to bring in some more competition on a market that's unfairly polarized towards Air Canada.
Air Canada cannot/could not compete with EK/EY. Any increase in flights for those two would seriously put a dent in traffic on their TATL routes which are used to funnel people onto LH into Places like India, etc. This is why management got their buddies to give them a subsidy a couple years back in form of protectionism.
This is not about what benefits the customer (heck, even Canadian taxpayers lost billions when AC received the subsidy - we got kicked out of a base in the UAE) - its about protecting Air Canada, a private company with friends at the top.