Author: Keith McArthur

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Limited

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 0771056885

No Canadian company today holds a higher profile than Air Canada; few CEOs possess the recognition factor of its chief, Robert Milton. But in 2003, their notoriety is for all the wrong reasons: in less than four years under Milton's command, Air Canada has gone from unrivalled industry giant to a wounded behemoth seeking bankruptcy protection. Was it mismanagement, government interference, a radically changed global environment, or just plain bad luck that brought down Canada's national flag carrier? Air Monopoly answers the question with a penetrating examination of a glamorous, high-risk business that attracts more than its share of dreamers and egotists. Milton, a life-long aviation enthusiast, took the controls at Air Canada at age thirty-nine in 1999. Within weeks he was battling a hostile takeover bid by investor Gerry Schwartz who intended to merge Air Canada with its chief competitor, Canadian Airlines. After a legal, political, and public-relations free-for-all, it was Milton who took over Canadian, then merged the two into a cumbersome monopoly that left cabinet ministers uneasy, consumers fuming, and ambitious small competitors eager to challenge Air Canada's supremacy. Four scrappy upstarts would disappear in the attempt to wrest market share from a dominant carrier prepared to engage in cutthroat tactics against any competition. When a fifth - WestJet - started to make real gains, Milton diversified his brand in an attempt to be all things to all travellers. Then came a global economic downturn, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, andwars in Afghanistan and Iraq, events that altered the aviation industry forever. Milton managed Air Canada through its most serious operational crisis ever, but since then questionable decisions, bad timing, and hubris have sent Air Canada into a tailspin, threatening its very existence.