The Competition Bureau of Canada has determined in a report that the expansion of the 'joint venture' between United Airlines and Air Canada, through the addition of new routes, would result in more expensive tickets and in a strengthening of situations close to monopoly.
Both companies, which already collaborate in a joint commercial agreement for cross-border flights, intend to add ten additional connections between the United States and Canada. Among the planned routes are Montreal-Chicago, Montreal-Washington, Ottawa-New York, Toronto-San Francisco and Vancouver-San Francisco.
According to what the Canadian body has indicated in a statement, on five of those ten proposed routes the two airlines currently concentrate the entire passenger traffic on direct, nonstop flights.
"The analysis concluded that the proposal would likely result in higher prices on most of the affected routes, which would cause millions in losses for consumers each year," the government agency has stated.
Under the Canada Transportation Act, the Competition body must convey to the Minister of Transport any concern regarding competition when certain agreements between airlines are submitted to a public interest review.
The Ministry will take into account the Bureau's findings within that review process and will be the one to make the final decision on whether or not to give the planned agreement the green light.