For the first time as of this Wednesday, the plane will cost less to go to the Magdalen Islands or Abitibi than in Europe.
Posted at 2:20 p.m.
The Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, unveiled the details of his Air Access Program to the regions on Tuesday. This program, which has an envelope of 86 million for the next two years, will, he hopes, relaunch regional air transport and give a boost to regional tourism.
The program has two components: one intended for residents of remote regions – Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord and Basse-Côte-Nord, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspésie, Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Saguenay-Lac-Saint- Jean, Eeyou Istchee Baie-James and Whapmagoostui – the other to the general public.
For residents of these regions, they will be entitled to a refund of 30% to 60% of the ticket price and will not be subject to any maximum refund amount. For the general public, tickets will be priced at $500 round trip or $250 one way and each person will be allowed six one-way or three round trips.
Restrictions
An important restriction applies: the discount only applies to trips made for personal reasons and tickets reimbursed by an employer, organization, health center or municipality, for example, are not eligible either. .
In the case of the general public discount, it only applies to departures or arrivals at the airports of Montreal, Quebec and Saint-Hubert. Unlike Tier One, which involves a refund request, $500 general public tickets will be available for purchase from participating carriers.
So far, six carriers have entered into agreements with Quebec, namely Air Canada, Air Creebec, Air Inuit, Air Liaison, PAL Airlines and Pascan.
Nearly 100,000 tickets will be available for a little over twenty destinations, but it is unlikely that they will all find takers unless there is an unexpected recovery and enthusiasm. By the Ministry of Transport’s own admission, the number of available tickets is about 50% higher than anticipated demand.