Centerlines - April 2008 - (Page 23) ONE ON ONE O N E O N O N E continued from page 19 reduction and improving efficiencies, etc., and really strengthening our infrastructure and foundation that will allow us to grow and diversify the business. How has the rising cost of fuel impacted your business, and what can you do to offset it? Fuel is a pass-through cost under our agreement with Air Canada. It does not directly affect our bottom line. We do though take fuel burn very seriously, and we work with Air Canada, and we have our own team and our own people inside that are fully dedicated to looking at ways of reducing fuel burn, not only from a cost point of view, but also from an environmental perspective. We have quite a number of initiatives. We did achieve some good reductions in 2007, year-over-year, and whether it’s the weight of the aircraft, the flight-planning system, or all of those things, of course, bearing safety in mind because safety is always our top priority. But a lot of little things all add up in the end, so we’re making progress, and although we’re not directly affected by it, we know Air Canada pays it, and when they look at our route profitability, those costs become important to Air Canada, and therefore they are important to us. Your company has said that labor costs for regional carriers are significantly less than those of mainline carriers and that Jazz’s labor costs come in approximately 30 percent less than Air Canada’s. How is that the case? We have, of course, our own employee group, our own labor relations, our own collective agreements, and Jazz was really born from the merger of several smaller, independent carriers that came under the Air Canada/Canadian Airlines umbrella and merged into Jazz. And we have our own work rules and cost structure, which is really relevant to the size and the type of aircraft that we fly. We’re lean and efficient, and we’re focused on what we do, and all of those things lead to about a 30 percent cost differential on the labor side. And salaries and wages are a big part of the cost of the airline business, and fully about half of the costs that we mark up as part of our CPA arrangement are salaries and wages. You have a charter business as well. Can you describe that business a bit? We have a small fleet of Dash 8 aircraft that we make available for charters to entities such as corporations, sports teams, fishing lodges, exploration companies, etc., and that’s just a pure charter arrangement the same as if you’d like to charter an aircraft with a group of friends to go see a football game. We have presently four Dash 8s that are dedicated to that charter business. VISIT GSE IN VEGAS 8 - 10 April 2008 Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Las Vegas • Live Outdoor Demo Area • Indoor / Outdoor Exhibit Areas • International Exhibitors • GSE Conference Program • Resort Venue • Hawaiian Luau Evening Reception Par-Kan Company • Lawrence Metal Products • Aero Specialties • Eagle Tugs • Cyclone Environmental Technologies • Global Ground Support LLC • Wings Electro Sales • Kocoverk International • Harlan Global Manufacturing • Allen Energy • Vestergaard Company, Inc • Allstar GSE - Systems Integrators L.L.C. • Architectural Brass Co • COBUS Industries, LP • I.D. Systems Inc • EnerSys Inc • Hobart Ground Power • Hy-Safe Technology • Hitzinger Gesellschaft m.b.H • TREPEL Airport Equipment • Trilectron / Air-A-Plane • J & B Aviation Services • Velcon Filters, Inc • TUG Technologies • Taiwan Fylin Industrial Co., Ltd. • Satco, Inc • Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH • Nordisk Aviation Products • Sage Parts Plus, Inc • LeBrun • Douglas Equipment Limited • Driessen Aerospace Group NV • INET Airport Systems, Inc • Titan Logix Corp • Goldhofer • Guinault Company • WHELEN Engineering Co Inc • Malabar International • SAF-HOLLAND, Inc • Electric Transportation Engineering Corp (ETEC) • Silvertronic • Keystone Ground Support • Flite Line Equipment • AmeriTrak Fleet Solutions LLC • Amicus VMS Ltd • Systems Integrators L.L.C. • Mototok International GmbH • Flexco • U.S. Manufacturing & Design • Wise Co, Inc • K & H Industries Inc • Dixie Poly Drum • U.S. Airmotive • Liquid Controls Group • Hall Industries Inc • HSQ Group - AWECO • Estex Mfg Co Inc • Forum Communications International • Clyde Machines Inc • Waterblasting Tecnologies • Harry Kahn Associates Inc • TACO Antennas • Albert Pourteau www.airportexpo2008.com www.aci-na.org | CENTERLINES HIGHLIGHTS 23 http://www.airportexpo2008.com http://www.aci-na.org
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