Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
In 1987, Air Canada and Canadian merged their computer reservations systems to form Gemini. Upon the merger, Gemini, Air Canada and Canadian entered into an agreement (the "hosting agreement") giving Gemini the exclusive right to manage Air Canada's and Canadian's internal reservations systems. According to the various agreements between the parties, the first opportunity for Canadian to terminate its management arrangement with Gemini would have arisen in 1999. In 1989, the parties entered into another hosting agreement when a new partner, Covia, joined Gemini.
In 1988, the Director challenged the Gemini merger under the Competition Act and sought to have it dissolved. The following year, the parties came to an agreement that would allow the merger to proceed without creating a substantial lessening of competition, and presented those terms to the Competition Tribunal for approval. The Consent Order issued by the Tribunal dealt with the airline owners of Gemini and their position as the two dominant carriers in the Canadian market and provided a code of conduct for the operators and owning carriers of CRSs in Canada.
Since the Consent Order, the financial position of Canadian has changed; the company is recording losses and payments to secured creditors have been suspended. AMR Corporation, the parent of American Airlines Inc., has proposed a transaction whereby AMR would invest $246 million in Canadian and there would be a frequent flyer exchange program and a 20-year service contract. The service contract would require Canadian to transfer its reservations system from Gemini to Sabre, the CRS owned by American Airlines.
In November 1992, the Director applied to the Tribunal under section 106 of the Competition Act to vary the 1989 Consent Order so as to permit an early termination of the hosting agreement to allow Canadian to transfer its internal reservations system from Gemini to Sabre.