Thousands of frustrated travellers sign petition against airline monopoly in Canada

Thousands of people have signed a petition addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to stop airline monopoly in Canada.

The petition was posted on Change.org on June 10 by user Alex Etin. In an accompanying letter, Etin states that air travel has become less affordable and options limited due to "the stranglehold that a few dominant Canadian airlines companies maintain on our airports."

"The lack of competition in our air travel sector leads to a deficit of flights, limiting the routes we can take and the frequency of these flights," remarks Etin. "To exacerbate the situation, the limited supply coupled with high demand has driven prices to prohibitive levels."

Etin's sentiments struck a chord with thousands, as the petition is just a few hundred signatures away from reaching its goal of 10,000 signatures. As of publishing this article, 9,874 people have signed the petition.

According to the petition, Canada's airline monopoly is "a deterrent to potential tourists and investors."

Instead, Trudeau's being urged to deregulate the air industry like the European Union and Australia.

"This change opened the doors to more airlines, sparking healthy competition that resulted in increased frequency of flights, a wider array of routes, and, most importantly, more affordable prices," states the petition.

WestJet is Canada's second-largest airline, and in May, the company announced that it completed its much-awaited acquisition of budget airline Sunwing Airlines and Sunwing Vacations.

On June 17, local media reported that an internal memo announced that WestJet would merge Sunwing Airlines into its mainline business. A representative for WestJet confirmed the decision but stated that the "anticipated timeline to do so has not been determined at this time."

On June 9, WestJet announced that it was shutting down its ultra-low-cost subsidiary, Swoop and planned to integrate the popular budget airline into its operations.

The integration is expected to reach completion at the end of October 2023.