Air Canada provides the following comment in
response to Transport Minister Collenette`s announcement today of initial
compensation to the Canadian airline industry:

Air Canada is appreciative of the Minister`s response in providing
partial compensation to the industry for losses incurred due to the closure of
Canadian airspace following the tragic events of September 11, 2001 in the
United States.

Air Canada looks forward to working with the government and the rest of
the industry towards a longer-term solution that will provide the required
stability to the airline industry in Canada.

In the meantime, Air Canada will continue to take all action necessary to
stabilise its operation and sustain the airline during this period of
unprecedented crisis in the global airline industry. Air Canada announced last
week that it would reduce its system-wide flight schedule by 20 per cent,
remove 84 aircraft from its fleet and proceed with 9,000 job reductions. The
carrier is reactivating its pre-September 11 Action Plan to re-engineer the
airline in order to meet changing consumer demands consistent with the new
realities in a post-September 11 environment.

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