Competition Bureau launches study of domestic Canadian airlines
Canada’s Competition Bureau has officially launched a market study of competition in domestic air passenger services, aiming to “better understand what is driving the competition issues in the domestic airline industry”.
As an independent law enforcement agency that protects and promotes competition for the benefit of Canadian consumers and businesses, the Competition Bureau will compile a report on its findings on the market study. The launch of this study follows an initial consultation, and the Minister of innovation, science and industry’s approval of its final terms of reference.
“We know many Canadians are frustrated by the cost and quality of the service being provided domestically,” commented Matthew Boswell, commissioner of competition. “We heard this in many of the over 1,400 submissions to the consultation on the terms of reference. Our goal with this market study is to examine the current state of competition in Canada’s airline sector and to determine what can be done to improve it”.
This will be the first study carried out under the recently-updated Competition Act (amended in 2023), which established a new framework for undertaking market studies with information-gathering powers.
