Deals or No DealsTime is just about up on several deals in the Canadian Airlines industry.
The Air Transat deal has a dead line to be closed by mid February. The date I have in my notes is February 14th but that is a Sunday. However, the point is we have a deal or no deal deadline by the end of this upcoming week. Or does it just get pushed again....AAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!
The deal is also contingent on both Canada and the EU authorities signing off on the deal. It also depends if Air Canada finds the deal still palatable after two governments have their inputs. That also has to happen by the end of this week.?????
And then has Westjet stepped in with an offer for Sunwing? What's with that and how does this fit in?
Airline industry stimulus needs to be addressed as Sunwing and Transat are technically bankrupt or very soon will be. The deal is the government has tied stimulus to refunds on non refundable fares. It was long ago addressed that a pandemic is a valid reason for non refundable fares not being refunded. So a decision on help for the industry needs to be addreessed very soon or things will get messy and there will be unemployed airline workers with no airline to go back to.
The flying public has to realize that a 0% loan to the airlines to refund this money is actually a very similar situation to getting non refundable credits for future use. The government loans the money to the airlines to pay the public back for the money they put into airfares that are not refundable. (It is in the contract they signed on for when they bought the tickets and they did have choices. Those that made the correct choices have been refunded.) The money circles back to the people who then spend the money stimulating the economy and this helps the economy recover. Once the economy recovers people once again start flying and the airline then has the cash from advance bookings to pay back the government.
If you are one of those who thinks this is a bad idea, I put you in the category of those who have gone before you in bankrupting every airline that has ever flown in Canada. Why would anybody ever listen to you? And if you bring this contentious attitude to any airlines' customer service interaction in the future you better realize that there are only 2 people at that point who are interested in you having a pleasant experience and you are in the process of losing the one who can actually improve your situation.
The question is, are we going to have some deals or just some more bankrupt airlines????? And the other question is whether this pain is going to be dragged out along with the pandemic or will someone get some back bone and at least get these items settled so there can be proper planning for the post pandemic Air Industry?
Also note AC earnings are reported on Friday Morning. Will we have a deal by then or no deal?