The regional air service is an essential service for many reasons.
First, we operate 700 flights from Mont-Joli for medical reasons; that amounts to nearly two a day. In many cases, these are emergency flights to the major centres. We need revenue to maintain this infrastructure, and that revenue comes mainly from aircraft landings.
Second, many workers travel to the north to mine important metals for various companies.
Third, this enables businesses to continue accessing Montreal and Quebec City markets and especially to get there quickly.
Furthermore, as a result of our aging population, we need access to health services, and people must be able to get to Montreal and Quebec City quickly.
We think that a hybrid arrangement should be put in place, and that would require certain legislative changes. The fact nevertheless remains that we should consider providing airports with a certain basic revenue, which would enable us to revise landing fees upward or downward. The result could be greater competition among carriers.