Canada is a very interesting case to study in aviation. Although the country has a relatively small population, relative to its size, concentrated in its major cities it relies heavily on air transport.
Why Does Canada Rely Heavily on Air Transport?
That is simply down to the country’s massive size and its economy. Much of the country’s exports are raw materials and therefore its economy relies on extraction operations heavily. However many of the extraction locations are not in proximity of the major cities. On the contrary they are far in the north of the country is some of the most isolated areas of the country. Therefore to keep there operations running it is inevitable that workers and supplies are flown in and out.
Talking about commercial air travel, the distances between Canadian cities often make it impracticable to drive from point A to point B. Therefore flying is often the preferred option. That is also the reason for which a country with a population under 40 million can sustain multiple airlines.
Which Are Canada’s Main Airlines?
The country’s main airlines can be narrow down to this shortlist:
- Air Canada
- WestJet
- Porter Airlines
- Air Transat
These are by far the most relevant and important airlines in the Canadian air transport ecosystem. We can split them in 3 categories:
- Full service carriers: Air Canada and WestJet
- Leisure LCC: Air Transat
- Domestic/Short Haul: Porter
There is however a long list of other operators which operate flights from and to raw material extraction locations. One of the most well known carriers is Air Inuit which coincidentally is one of the few airlines to operate the Boeing 737-200 Combi. Not only, these planes are also equipped to land on gravel with special skids that avoid rocks being lifted by the wheels towards the fuselage and a special accessory for the engine intakes.
WestJet And Air Canada Head To Head
Over the past years two airlines more then any others in Canada have gone head to head: Air Canada and WestJet. The story of the latter is quite interesting. WestJet in fact started operations as a low cost carrier and modified its identity to become a full service carrier. Now the airline is progressively launching long haul services to Europe and Asia using a fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Air Canada on the other hand is the 800 pound gorilla of Canadian aviation. The airline is the main link for the country to the Asia-Pacific region and towards Europe.
