Regional flights: the Legault plan is taking shape

The government’s long-awaited plan to support regional flights provides for subsidies for the companies that will offer the best service proposals. In exchange, the latter will have to guarantee frequent flights at a ceiling price.

Regional elected officials have been waiting for more than a year for this plan, made necessary by the departure of Air Canada from many Quebec cities such as Val D’Or and Gaspé.

Transport Minister François Bonnardel had promised to present his plan in January, but it is still pending.

Or The duty discovered that during an announcement in Jamésie in August, the Prime Minister Francois Legault had unveiled the main lines of the project. “What we are going to offer to several airlines, including Air Creebec and Air Inuit, is that the company that makes the best service offer will receive a subsidy in exchange for a guaranteed minimum frequency and a maximum price. », He declared on August 26th according to comments reported by the newspaper La Sentinelle de Chibougamau.

These comments come as the aviation community is impatient with this issue. Recently, the transporter TREQ recalled that the government had promised a plan last June. The first flights of the cooperative are still pending because too many uncertainties persist, lamented its director to the media MonMatane.com.

In Minister Bonnardel’s office, we did not want to comment directly on the Prime Minister’s comments. “We are in the process of completing the preparation of our plan,” said the minister’s press secretary, Florence Plourde. “We still have work to do, but things are going very well. “

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