Air Monopoly: How Robert Milton's Air Canada Won—and Lost—Control of Canada's Skies

Robert W. Sexty is a professor of commerce and business administration
at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is the author of Canadian
Business: Issues and Stakeholders.

In the past 10 years, the passenger aviation industry has experienced
one crisis after another: 9/11, SARS, increased competition resulting
from start-ups, government interference, corporate mismanagement,
consumer dissatisfaction, labour intransigence, operational problems,
and bankruptcy. Air Canada customers, employees, shareholders,
creditors, suppliers, and competitors are among the stakeholders that
have been caught up in the turbulence.

As a transportation reporter for The Globe and Mail’s Report on
Business, the author is ideally positioned to write about the Canadian
airline industry. Although his book focuses on events since 1999, the
first two chapters give a brief history of the industry and the major
players involved. Subsequent chapters describe Air Canada’s troubled
recent history, up to its emergence from bankruptcy in 2003–04. The
bibliography is a good source of literature on Canadian airline history.


Despite being disciples of free enterprise, many managers lust for
monopoly power. The Air Canada–Canadian Airlines merger provided an
opportunity for Robert Milton, Air Canada CEO, to obtain this power.
McArthur’s account of how Milton outmanoeuvred Gerry Schwartz’s Onex
Corporation in the competition for Canadian Airlines is credible. As for
the future, McArthur predicts that “Air Canada’s days are
numbered”—it will be swallowed by another major airline to form a
global network.