A new Qatar-Canada air agreement doesn’t go far enough for B.C., according to two provincial government ministers.
The air agreement, announced February 2, allows for a weekly total of three direct passenger round-trip flights from Qatar to Canada plus three all-cargo flights for Qatar’s designated carrier, Qatar Airways. Reciprocal rights are available to Canadian carriers.
In a joint statement, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Shirley Bond and Minister of Tourism, Trade and Infrastructure Margaret MacDiarmid said the agreement falls well short of true open skies agreements, which have no capacity restrictions. Those agreements, they said, can generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually and thousands of jobs for B.C.’s economy.
“As it is, the agreement allows Qatar Airways to enter the Canadian market with a Doha-Montreal service and restricts further growth into western Canada,” the ministers’ statement said.
“This agreement replicates the concerns we have with other restrictive bilateral agreements, including that with the United Arab Emirates.”
This is not the first time Bond has stressed the importance of open skies agreements to the success of Canada’s Pacific Gateway (see “B.C. flogs air space case”– issue 1095; October 19-25, 2010).
The agreement restricts Qatar Airways to operating passenger flights to two Canadian cities of its choosing. The all-cargo flights have no location restrictions.
So far, Qatar Airways has made no overtures to establish direct flights to Vancouver International Airport, a Vancouver Airport Authority representative confirmed.
Aéroports de Montreal assistant director of public relations Stéphanie Lepage neither confirmed nor denied recent media reports that Qatar Airways is planning to operate three direct Doha-Montreal flights weekly starting in early summer.
“There are some negotiations [between Aéroports de Montreal and Qatar Airways],” she said, “but I can’t speak about it because nothing has been confirmed yet.”
In a statement, Transport Canada noted no Canadian carrier has yet indicated interest in operating services to Qatar.
According to Transport Canada, the new agreement is geared at responding to the short and medium-term requirements of the Canada-Qatar market – which, the department commented, isn’t large.
“Enhanced air services between [Canada and Qatar] will help boost trade during this critical time in the global economic recovery,” Minister of International Trade Peter Van Loan said in a press release, noting that Canada intends to open a new embassy in Doha this year. “The new embassy will provide additional support to Canadian businesses wishing to expand their operations in this growing region.”