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ACE Aviation Holdings Inc.'s Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd. will unite to fight for lower airport fees now that the rival carriers have settled a two-year legal dispute, ACE Chief Executive Officer Robert Milton said.More...

«It's a great window that there's a recommenced dialogue between Air Canada and WestJet,'' Milton, 45, said today at a press conference after an investors' meeting in Montreal. «There is the ability now to much more effectively speak with one voice.'' The two are Canada's biggest airlines.

WestJet apologized yesterday for stealing flight information from Air Canada's employee Web site and agreed to pay the airline C$5.5 million ($5 million). Now the airlines can co-operate to fight the «real disadvantages'' they face, including costs at airports such as Toronto's Pearson International, the world's most expensive place to land, Milton said.

«If we can dramatically get costs down, it will benefit the consumer significantly,'' Milton said. «By benefiting the consumer, we will in turn benefit ourselves, costs come down, ridership goes up.''

Airport landing fees, as well as air-traffic control costs, «are real impediments to strong results on the part of Canadian airlines,'' Milton said.

As of last November, Pearson's charge for a Boeing 747-400 aircraft to land was $10,986, according to figures compiled by researchers at the University of British Columbia. The Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which oversees Pearson, has said increased rent payments to the federal government led to its rates.

Canada's airport industry and airlines had lobbied the previous Liberal government to reduce rent at Pearson, which generates almost half the revenue Canada collects from airports. The Conservative Party ousted the Liberals in a Jan. 23 vote.

Clive Beddoe, chief executive officer at Calgary-based WestJet, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg News.

(Bloomberg)

[tags]Air Canada, WestJet, Milton, Beddoe[/tags]