Are you going to buy a $500 plane ticket?

For years, we have hoped one day to fly to a destination far from Quebec without paying the price of a round trip to Europe or even Asia. Since Wednesday, it is now possible for nearly 100,000 travelers who will be able to take advantage of a reduced rate, generously subsidized by the Quebec government.

Are you going to take advantage of the Regional Air Access Program (PAAR) to buy a $500 round-trip plane ticket to visit the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Gaspésie or the vast forests of Abitibi or Lac-Saint-Jean?

The question arises because this new program, which was set up to support six regional air carriers, including Air Canada, is essentially intended to encourage travelers to fly only for recreational purposes from Montreal airports, of Saint-Hubert and Quebec.

Faced with the multitude of restrictions attached to the AIP, it can be difficult to navigate, and one can also wonder how the government will manage to exercise any control whatsoever to manage the many potential cases of abuse.

Self-employed workers who travel as part of their job, company employees who can be reimbursed for the $500 ticket price, organizations, health centers or civil servants are not entitled to claim reduced rate offered by the PAAR.

But who will check whether the ticket paid for $500 will not be reimbursed by an employer or whether it will be included in the list of expenses for a self-employed worker?

The government relies on the good faith of users who will take advantage of reduced fares and who will have to sign a sworn statement to confirm that they are traveling for strictly personal and non-professional purposes. For fraudsters, a declaration of honor is worth what it’s worth…

Each traveler will have the option of making three round trips in the same year, or six one-way trips.

However, regional air carriers will find it difficult to know if a passenger has already exercised their rights of three round trips with a competitor or if they are checking in with a different address.

Note that people in remote areas will not be able to take advantage of these fixed $500 fares, since they will continue to be eligible for Tier 1 of the program, which provides for a reimbursement of 30 to 60% of the full fare of the regional air carrier, according to the level of isolation or remoteness from their region of origin.

This distinction also confirms the tourist incentive aspect of the Air Access Program to the regions, since even foreign tourists will be able to benefit from $500 fares if they want to leave Montreal to visit Chibougamau or Gaspé. .

Traveling on foot?

The ultimate goal of the PAAR is therefore to stimulate traffic on Quebec’s domestic airlines by encouraging travelers to take the plane rather than get to their destination by car, thanks to the substantial discounts granted on the price of tickets.

This does not regulate travel once at destination. Personally, when I travel to Gaspésie, Côte-Nord, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Abitibi-Témiscamingue or Nord-du-Québec, I much prefer to take my car and discover all the nooks and crannies of a region, those who make their charm and who encourage me to visit them.

Tourists from Montreal, Quebec or from abroad who are going to take a plane to land in Gaspé will certainly want to discover something other than just Gaspé Bay, they will certainly like to explore Rivière-au-Renard just as much as they will want to contemplate the rock in Percé.

Finding a rental car in the region can quickly become quite a challenge, given their limited number and also the crazy inflation that has taken hold of the car rental market and caused prices to skyrocket across the country.

Same observation and other questions concerning the large number of $500 tickets that will be reserved exclusively for the Magdalen Islands destination.

The Ministry of Transport has planned to grant 30% of the 100,000 $500 tickets for round trips to the Islands, because it is the preferred destination for urban tourists from Montreal, Quebec and abroad.

However, tourists who frequent the Îles-de-la-Madeleine and who already fly there have the financial means to pay for such an adventure.

So why offer a discount to wealthy people who would have flown there anyway?

A phenomenon observed by the regional carrier Pascan, which recorded five times more reservations during the day on Wednesday than usual.

“The first on-line reservation was made at 12:04 a.m. Wednesday night and our operators were overwhelmed with calls all day. Many travelers wanted to book a flight to the Islands in July, but it’s already full. You have to do it six months in advance, so they will come back next year, ”explained Yani Gagnon, executive vice-president of the air carrier.

Quebec lags considerably behind the other Canadian provinces in the use of air transport for interregional travel.

The PAAR comes to provide a temporary solution to a much deeper structural problem, that of the low population of several of our most beautiful corners of the country, which prevents a consistent and economically viable air service, 12 months a year.