Quebec offers rebates for regional flights to combat sky-high prices

The Quebec government has announced new measures to make it cheaper for people from the north and eastern parts of the province to afford regional flights.

Residents of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, Gaspé, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean can now apply for partial reimbursement of their airfare.

The rebate is a 30 per cent discount on the cost of flights within Quebec, up to a maximum of $500 a year.  

For example, one roundtrip flight to Gaspé from Montreal costs $564, while a trip to Paris during the same week is $500.

Fay Gallon, a resident of New Carlisle in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region, said the reimbursement will help with mobility within the province.

"Offering reimbursement will help a lot of people travelling and would open the doors for them to maybe flying," said Gallon.

To apply for the discount, a person must be a permanent resident of the region or a student whose parents live in a remote area.

The announcement was an expansion of the provincial government's AirFare Reduction Program, which already provides flight rebates to people in remote communities.

As it is, people in communities not linked to the province's road network can get up to $3,000 of airfare costs back while those in areas recognized as being remote by Revenu Québec can get a $1,500 discount.

The government also announced a $100-million worth of funding to upgrade regional airports.

Regional transit summit

The new airfare discounts were discussed at a regional transit summit held in February that addressed the high costs of flying in and out of remote parts of Quebec and the lack of competition in the airline industry.

At the summit Premier Philippe Couillard quoted a study published by the Union of Quebec Municipalities which estimated that the cost of a regional airline ticket is 55 per cent higher than the cost of intra-provincial travel.

The study found the average cost in Quebec works out to $1.20 per nautical mile, compared to 77 cents elsewhere in the country.

"Choosing to live in a region shouldn't mean a lesser quality of life," Couillard said at the summit.

Lack of options

Residents of remote parts of Quebec are contending with a shrinking set of transportation options.

ViaRail announced in 2013 that service to Matapédia, New Carlisle and Gaspé was suspended indefinitely.

Autobus Maheux, which serves parts of rural Quebec, recently told CBC News that it could be forced to cut back on service on all but it's most profitable routes.