Proposed Air Canada-United deal would hurt competition, raise prices: watchdog
The country's competition watchdog says a proposed co-operation arrangement between Air Canada and United Airlines would reduce competition and raise airfares.
The country’s watchdog on competition has raised concerns that a proposed collaboration between Air Canada and United Airlines could decrease competition and hike airfares. According to Interim Competition Commissioner Jeanne Pratt, an intensified joint venture between the two airlines would "severely damage" competition across ten routes linking major Canadian airports to seven of the United States' major cities, such as New York, Chicago, and Houston.
In June, Air Canada and United proposed extending their three-decade-old partnership, which includes pricing cooperation, between Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver to the aforementioned U.S. destinations. The commissioner asserts that coordination on the ten routes is prohibited under a 2012 agreement established following the watchdog's finding that a similar deal would have harmed competition.
She adds that Air Canada and United currently control all non-stop traffic on half of those routes and hold significant market shares on the others, with high barriers to entry likely cementing near-monopoly conditions on several corridors. Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon is scheduled to review the Competition Bureau's findings and decide whether to approve the proposed arrangement. This report by The Canadian Press was originally released on October 28, 2026.
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