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21 190 Linguistic Turmoil once back on his feet, Pierre Jeanniot wanted to go even further in bringing new technology into Air Canada. All through the whirlwind of reorganizing computer services and the tasks surrounding strategic planning, he never lost sight of his favourite child: the electronic reservations system . After several months of experimentation with the new Univac 1110 computer, more powerful than the previous model (1108), Reservec ii was now ready, both in computer andmaterialterms.Atthebeginningofthe1970s,asidefrom American Airlines and, more timidly, Air France, Air Canada was the only airline company in the world to offer a true reservation service in real time to travel agencies. As he had done with the black box, Pierre Jeanniot wanted to generate additional revenue for Air Canada through commercialization. He also thought that if his system were adopted by a number of important companies in America, Europe and Asia, it would be to the benefit of the entire airline industry, standardizing reservation systems the world over.n A few regional Canadian carriers (Pacific Western Airlines in Vancouver, Eastern Provincial Airways in Halifax and Transair in Winnipeg), plus one international airline company, Air Jamaica, were among the first clients. The Canadian Armed Forces bought into it to manage the transport of soldiers in their six Boeing 707s. Québecair and Nordair were added to the list. The sale, installation and service to the users went very well, proving, to Pierre Jeanniot’s great pleasure, that the system had been well designed and well built. Word spread rapidly in the aviation world, and international companies followed suit, to the extent that in a few iata announced in March 2008 that, as of the following June 1, the e-ticket, or electronic right of passage, would everywhere in the world replace the traditional paper airline ticket. Not only is the reservation system electronic, but the ticket delivery is now on-line for all carriers that are members of iata (some 250 companies). 191 Linguistic Turmoil years Air Canada had developed a small, parallel business, launched by Pierre Jeanniot, that was very profitable. With contracts averaging five years, the revenue from fees, rentals and post-sale services increased Air Canada’s consolidated turnover by several million dollars for each financial year. In 1975, Pierre Jeanniot told a journalist from the Globe & Mail that he had targeted as potential clients forty or so medium-sized airline companies, a claim borne out in the following months. During this time, the restructuring and francization imposed by Air Canada was having an impact on employee morale. Another apple of discord was the binary structure that resulted in a number of upper managers answering both to the chairman of the board (who was also the ceo), the francophone Yves Pratte, and to the president and chief operating officer, the anglophone John Baldwin. As well, a number of francophones from outside the company had been named to lead important divisions, because, it was claimed, no one qualified could be found in the ranks. This also rankled. Of the twenty top executives who had once all been anglophones, there were now four francophones—all, as it happened, perfectly bilingual. Along with Pierre Jeanniot, there was Yves Jasmin, who had made his name as director general of public relations at Expo 67, Maurice D’Amours from Bell Canada and Yves Ménard. The latter had left Procter & Gamble to become vice-president of marketing and sales. After a few months at the post, he found himself at the heart of a controversy that cost him his job, and, in the process, that of Yves Pratte. At his suggestion, Air Canada had launched, in 1975, a development program for flights to vacation spots, notably Barbados. Aided by a vast publicity campaign, the promotion had been very successful in Quebec. The slogan Mon bikini, ma brosse à dents (My bikini, my toothbrush), devised by the ad agency bcp,31 was on everyone’s lips. The ad starred the popular singer and actress Dominique Michel, who was seen dancing and singing under the sun in a bikini, along with young, muscular Barbadians with wide, complicitous smiles. Sales rose considerably in Quebec, but a journalist from the newspaper The Gazette brought to light a supposed scandal implicating Yves Ménard, who, according to the incriminating article, had invested in a property complex in Barbados at the same time as he was organizing the promotional campaign for this holiday destination. The journalist insinuated that there was a likely conflict of interest...

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