Air Canada is selling its Quebec regional airline, Air Alliance, just two weeks after Canadian Airlines International sold its Quebec feeder, Inter-Canadian, to private investors.
Air Alliance has been a drain on Air Canada's finances for several years. It lost several million dollars last year because of a prolonged strike and the fact that it flies nine de Havilland Dash-8-100s in a market that requires aircraft half that size to be profitable, according to Air Canada. The Air Canada Connector airline also operates five Beech 1900Ds .
Air Alliance has annual revenue of about C$50 million ($35 million), 350 employees, 11 aircraft and 15 destinations, including services to Newark and Hartford in the USA from its bases in Quebec and Montreal.
Source: Flight International
