WestJet raises fees, warns of further travel decline after Nav Canada rate increase
 

https://globalnews.ca/news/7311049/w...-fee-increase/

WestJet Airlines Ltd. is raising its surcharges on domestic flights in response to a 30 per cent rate increase by Nav Canada, which operates air navigation across the country.

The airline says it has hiked the fee it charges for air traffic control services by between $4 and $7 per passenger, depending on flight duration.

In other news, NavCanada lowered it's charges and the airlines didn't pass it on to passengers.

https://financialpost.com/transporta...lion-next-year

Jul 18, 2016
TORONTO — Canada’s air-traffic controller is lowering its service charges by an average of 7.6 per cent, a move it says will save airlines about $100 million next fiscal year.Nav Canada announced Monday that it will reduce its base rates by 3.9 per cent on an ongoing basis and will add a temporary one-year reduction of 3.7 per cent beginning Sept. 1. This is the third time the company has lowered its fees since 2006.

Still cheaper overflight fees going via the US. This is why you will often see CYYZ-CYVR flights running just south of the border for the majority of the flight.

You do realize the FAA doesn't charge overflight fees to flights between two points in Canada transiting U.S. airspace, right? Same way NavCan Enroute Charges do not apply to flights between two points in the United States (other than flights to/from Alaska with an aircraft weighing more than 200 tonnes)

Quite correct (see FAA para (c) of Appendix B to Part 187 for the exemption) - and AC selects (requests) transcontinental flight routes for their efficiency and traffic.

So are they running some computer code that figures out the cheapest route given ATC and fuel burn etc?

Almost every major airline does that.
It's called cost index.
Speed down, save fuel, increase cost due to missed connections and higher wages.
Fly over Russia, increased overflight fees, but shorter flight time. Fly over North Pacific, lower fees, longer flight time.
The computer spits out a route and speed to fly at.

It is quite amazing the information that the computer needs to consider and can provide a route, fuel, costs, etc all within a minute or so of requesting a flight plan generation. At a very high-level, the flight planning systems need to consider:

1) Optimize type (Time, Cost, Fuel)
2) Weather, winds, icing, turbulence, etc
3) Route requirements: Preferred Routes, NOTAM closures, RAD/CDR constraints, FL profiles, ETOPS/ETP etc
4) ATC Constraints: Slot availability, Sector capacity, military activity, etc
5) Country Requirements: Permits, curfews, etc
6) Airline-specific requirements: Company routes, local ATC agreements
7) Aircraft capability: Payload, range, FL constraints, ETOPS/ETP, performance profiles, etc