Finance committee  Good afternoon. My name is John McKenna, and I am the president of the Air Transport Association of Canada. I thank you for inviting me to appear before this committee. I want to switch to French for one second. For technical reasons, I will speak in English, but I will be hap

Finance committee  We've written three letters and also supporting emails to the Prime Minister and numerous ministers of Parliament, including the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Transport. No, we've not received an acknowledgement.

Finance committee  Airlines are divided into categories depending on size.

Finance committee  There are roughly 45 airlines in Canada.

Finance committee  I don't know for sure, but it's a significant number.

Finance committee  Yes, they're the regional carriers and the smaller carriers. There are some large carriers too, like Porter and Sunwing and so on.

Finance committee  There have been no plans that are designed for aviation and the high costs that we have as far as the industry goes. People have gone to the regular plans that are offered to everybody else.

Finance committee  My first thought is that you're right. A recent poll conducted by one of our members indicates that 75% of Canadians say that they're going to be nervous about flying until there is a vaccine. That's really bad news for our industry. What the government needs to do is work with

Finance committee  I'm just surprised it took so long for that question to be tabled. I think that carriers right now are struggling to survive; they don't have the cash flow. Not everybody has the same philosophy as far as our current policy on reimbursement goes. Many have done it. The few that

Finance committee  Yes, it's most frustrating also because time is of the essence here.

Finance committee  For all modes of transport...but aviation has a particularly high fixed cost to meet, and they're just not doing it right now.

Finance committee  Yes, for a number of reasons but consumer behaviour is going to be key in this, and opening up of the borders and so on; these are all factors that play into it. In fact, the International Air Transport Association, IATA, thinks it's going to take until 2023 before we get back to

Finance committee  Actually, we're looking at that right now, what's being done elsewhere, what the laws allow us to do, because the privacy laws in Canada are very strict. We also have to be concerned about the different levels of airports in Canada. You can have a system for international airpo

Finance committee  Thank you, sir. Actually, our industry needs liquidity. That's all we need. We don't need to get further in debt. We need liquidity. That's what we've been asking the government to provide. That's the answer.

Transport committee  Good afternoon. The Air Transport Association of Canada represents this country's commercial aviation and has done so since 1934. We have approximately 180 members engaged in all levels of commercial aviation, operating in every region of Canada. We welcome this opportunity to s