November 3, 2000

Mr. Mark Winders
Chief Operating Officer
CanJet Airlines
2651 Dutch Village Road , Suite 400
Halifax, NS   B3L 4T1
 
Dear Mr. Winders:

On behalf of the Windsor & District Chamber of Commerce, I wish to express our support for continuation of CanJet’s service in the Windsor market.

The Windsor & District Chamber of Commerce represents over 1,350 business members who collectively employ over 80,000 people in the Windsor and Essex County area. As the “Voice of Business,” our mandate is to be the mechanism to promote and preserve the business and entrepreneurial environment essential to the development of a healthy economic community and to foster an environment that allows Windsor and Essex County business to prosper and compete.

It was discouraging to hear recently that CanJet’s service from Windsor was being suspended so quickly after its introduction to the market. CanJet’s initial recommendations for targeting business travellers are sound yet they have not been afforded sufficient time to tap the substantial market (6 million people in a 65 km radius) to which they have access.

We endorse CanJet’s strategies and feel it is essential that they be provided with additional time to implement and then gauge consumer reaction to these strategies. It takes a minimum of five years to measure the success (or failure) of a new venture yet, CanJet has only had a fraction of that time to build a satisfactory market when working against resident competition and a lack of scheduled flight times geared towards the business traveller.

As well, CanJet must be able to provide its customers with access to optimum scheduling choices, i.e., early morning departure(s) in order to compete more effectively against other carriers. CanJet relies upon a base of passengers who don’t necessarily need/want extended business trips. As the commodity of time becomes more precious in the working world, the ability to “hop” a flight, conduct business and fly home in one day correspondingly becomes  more attractive. Without a regularly-scheduled early morning flight, CanJet will lose that crucial base.

Yes, it is critical to offer travellers scheduling alternatives, i.e., late afternoon flights coupled with hotel packages however, the foundation of business travel is increasingly being built upon the former than the latter. That is why it is vital that CanJet be afforded the contingency to provide that option to them.

Windsor and surrounding businesses applauded the launch of CanJet’s services in September. Now the luxury of having an additional air carrier from which to choose is being snatched away just as quickly as it was proffered. Simply, it is unexpected and disappointing.

By granting CanJet an opportunity to prosper and compete you will also provide area travellers with an opportunity to decide where they want to go, how they want to get where they’re going and when they want to get there.

The Chamber has available various methods and opportunities to target our membership with your appropriate message. This would certainly ensure effective awareness of your service.

Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither is successful business.

Very sincerely,

James E. (Ted) Farron
Chairman of the Board