Wall Street Journal article on AC fare structure
Jun 9, 2004, 10:52 pm
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Wall Street Journal article on AC fare structure
The Wall Street Journal, on June 8 - had a complementary article on the new fare structure on Air Canada (sorry, I can not provide the link - I do not subscribe to the electronic (or paper) edition of the newspaper - I happened to receive the newpaper, at the hotel I was staying at).
It talks about the 6 fare types - available on the AC web site. It talks about Mr. Brewer, when he was at UA, trying to institute the same type of fare structure, but was "rebuffed", at that time.
Interestingly enough, the article states that in April, 45% of the fares purchased were of the more expensive "fun", "latitude", and "freedom" fares, and 55% bought the cheaper "economy" or "tango" fares. It quotes Mr. Brewer as saying that many business travellers buy the cheaper flight, on the outbound portion of their journey, since they know exactly when they are leaving, and a more expensive changeable ticket for the return part of their journey, in case they need to change their plans, in terms of the departure date/time.
The article states that it is still too early to say, if the new fare structure will be successful, or whether it will help AC successfully exit bankruptcy protection.
The article states that discount airlines force the "legacy" airlines to change their price structure - such as US Air changing its rates in Philadelphia when Southwest came to town; or United changing its price structure in Washington DC, when Independence Air starts its operations. The article states that these airlines' responses to their American discount airline competitors is similar to Air Canada's response to the Canadian discount carriers.
It talks about the 6 fare types - available on the AC web site. It talks about Mr. Brewer, when he was at UA, trying to institute the same type of fare structure, but was "rebuffed", at that time.
Interestingly enough, the article states that in April, 45% of the fares purchased were of the more expensive "fun", "latitude", and "freedom" fares, and 55% bought the cheaper "economy" or "tango" fares. It quotes Mr. Brewer as saying that many business travellers buy the cheaper flight, on the outbound portion of their journey, since they know exactly when they are leaving, and a more expensive changeable ticket for the return part of their journey, in case they need to change their plans, in terms of the departure date/time.
The article states that it is still too early to say, if the new fare structure will be successful, or whether it will help AC successfully exit bankruptcy protection.
The article states that discount airlines force the "legacy" airlines to change their price structure - such as US Air changing its rates in Philadelphia when Southwest came to town; or United changing its price structure in Washington DC, when Independence Air starts its operations. The article states that these airlines' responses to their American discount airline competitors is similar to Air Canada's response to the Canadian discount carriers.
