Service reduction and layoffs at Baskan Airlines

Starting in December, air carrier Pascan Aviation will reduce the number of its frequent flights and cancel some unprofitable services.

In a document obtained by Radio-Canada, Baskan informed his employees that he was forced to implement it Temporary or permanent layoff of workers As well as adjusting salaries to ensure the sustainability of its activities.

To explain this decision, the carrier points to the end of the Quebec government’s assistance program for the maintenance of essential regional air services and significant labor costs.

The programme, which was initially implemented during the pandemic to provide service to communities in remote areas, was extended last spring, before ending on September 30.

The economic update presented Tuesday in Quebec does not provide any envelope for its renewal.

But Baskan did not specify which areas would be affected by this decrease in service.

Clip wings carrier

Ile de la Madeleine MP and Parti Québécois transportation spokesman Joël Arsenault denounced the government’s decision not to extend the program again.

[Le gouvernement] It causes a situation that will be absolutely disastrous for the areas served by Baskan, which will see its services completely abandoned or significantly reduced.he maintains.

By pulling the rug from under the feet of regional airlines, which maintain their services at a distance, the government is clearly causing a crisis.

Representative Madelinout confirms that the regions depend on air service, especially in the health field.

Medicines, medical supplies, patients and healthcare professionals are transported. This is the basis. There is also the economic lever represented by air transport. We are here in the unknown. We do not know what services we will be entitled to in the coming monthsHe insists.

Joel Arsenault also criticizes the government for focusing solely on stimulating demand for air transportation services through its $500 ticket program, the Program for Regional Air Access (PAAR), which has been criticized by many elected officials.

actually [PAAR] He says this was a bitter failure, but the government decided to cut the only aid program to maintain basic regional air services. It’s a very disastrous series of events and the government is clipping the carriers’ wings.

It requests the government to reverse its decision not to renew the Basic Regional Air Services Maintenance Assistance Program and calls for the intervention of the Standing Committee on Regional Air Transport.

Complex file

For his part, the head of the inter-municipal authority of Mont Joli Airport, Bruno Paradis, called for the creation of a new long-term aid programme.

He says that the issue of air transport is complex and private. But if we want to have something organized for the long term, it will require long-term programs that align with the needs of both communities and carriers.

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According to him, current financial programs do not allow transport companies to guarantee the sustainability of their services and do not allow users to regain some confidence in the reliability of these services.

The solutions have the letter a and we have already named them“, confirms Bruno Paradis, who already spoke on this topic last January.We don’t want to see a solution that seems to come out of a hat and that will magically solve the situation, when in reality it is just wishful thinking.he adds.

Mr. Paradis indicates that he did not receive any indication that contact with Mont Joli Airport had been lost.

At the time of publishing this text, the Baskan administration as well as the Office of the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility had not responded to our requests for an interview.