Lower than half of the 98,800 $500 airline tickets have been offered within the first yr of the Legault administration’s assist program to decrease the price of air journey.
• Additionally learn: $500 tickets are a headache on the islands
From June 1, 2022 to Could 31, 2023, “the equal of 44,302 round-trip tickets have been bought via the Air Entry Program to the Areas (PAAR),” the ministry instructed the Louis-André Bertrand journal of transport.
“It’s a bitter failure that’s damaging to the areas,” declared PQ Magdalen Islands MP Joël Arseneau.
Hardly just a few hundred tickets have been offered for cities like Saguenay or Baie-Comeau.
By far the preferred vacation spot was the Magdalen Islands, which offered 13,882 backed tickets.
Swap from boat to aircraft?
Consequence: Round 40% of holiday makers to the islands arrived by aircraft final yr, in contrast with 20% in 2019, stated the mayor of the municipality, Antonin Valiquette. Because of this, the proportion of vacationers arriving by ship has fallen from 80% to round 60%
Photograph from LinkedIn
Antonin Valiquette, mayor of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine since March 2023.
The variety of vacationers visiting the islands rose from round 68,000 in 2019 to 75,000 final yr, up 7,000.
From this it may be deduced that the variety of guests arriving by aircraft has fallen from round 14,000 to 30,000, whereas the variety of guests arriving by ship has fallen from round 55,000 to 45,000. Inquiry from boat to aircraft.
CTMA, the corporate that operates the ferry to the islands, didn’t reply to the journal on Thursday.
Nevertheless, Mayor Valiquette claimed that the PAAR helped prolong the vacationer season on the islands by rising the variety of guests in Could, June, September and October.
Dangerous reliability
Though this system has made connections between main facilities and areas extra inexpensive, based on many, it has failed by way of the reliability of air providers. A number of media have identified in latest months that regional flight cancellations and delays are the order of the day.
“What we’ve seen day-after-day since PAAR was fashioned is that reliability has gone down, and that’s unlucky,” stated Mr. Arseneau indignantly.
Regardless of all the things, the Ministry of Transport believes that “this system has made it doable to attain its goals”.
“Nevertheless, on condition that the pandemic has been overcome and after solely 12 months of implementation, it’s untimely to undertake a full evaluation of the programme. Because the inhabitants turns into extra aware of this system, extra folks will be capable of use these tickets at discounted costs,” stated Mr. Bertrand.
The price of subsidies for the 44,302 tickets offered was $22.4 million, averaging $506 per ticket. Because of this, Quebec spent $15.6 million lower than the $38 million budgeted a yr in the past.
The Division of Transport spokesman additionally identified that the variety of backed tickets allotted to airways, some 98,800 within the first yr of PAIR, “doesn’t characterize a gross sales goal” however reasonably what the federal government deemed crucial “to satisfy anticipated demand.” cowl”. .
Variety of $500 round-trip tickets offered from 1um June 2022 to Could 31, 2023
- Magdalen Islands: 13,881
- Sept-Iles: 6809
- Fermont: 6445
- Gaspe: 3076
- Rouyn-Noranda: 2364
- Val d’Or: 2147
- Blanc Sablon: 1614
- Schefferville: 1089
- Bonaventure: 882
- Chibougamau: 861
- Baie Comeau: 713
- Anticosti Island: 679
- Saguenay: 642
- Mont Joli: 454
- Different targets: 2645
- Complete: 44,302
Supply: Transports et Mobilité Sturdy Québec
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