IATA-Sponsored Event Held In Ottawa

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) held a forum Tuesday for airline interests in Canada to meet and discuss how to get Canadians to celebrate their airlines.

At the center of the discussion was how to convince the Canadian government to stop treating airlines like a "cash cow." IATA's vice president for North America said that taxes and fees charged to the airlines are making Canadian destinations less attractive for foreign tourists, and that the revenue collected goes back to the general fund rather than for aviation projects.

The Montreal Gazette reports that George Petsikas, the president of the National Airlines Council of Canada, said aviation is "the only industry that is treated this way." David Goldstein, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said the country has fallen from the list of top 10 destinations in part because it's so expensive to fly there. Hotel Association of Canada president Anthony Pollard called for a complete review of the aviation sector.

However, the the paper reports that the member of Parliament who made the keynote speech for the lunch meeting made a "boilerplate" speech which left those issues on the table. Instead, he reportedly talked in negative terms about the EU's pending plan to charge airlines a carbon tax to fly to destinations in Europe.

FMI: www.iata.org