Daniel-Robert Gooch, President of the Canadian Airports Council
Canada’s airports have been in a state of continuous change – and improvement – since the government ceded operational management and decision-making to local interests in the 1990s. The federal government retained ownership of 26 airports it deemed to be of “national significance,” but leased operations to privately held non-share capital corporations, known as airport authorities. Another 71 regional and local airports were spun off to non-government ownership and operation, but with continued federal regulatory oversight.
Since then, guided by local community-oriented boards, Canada’s airports have evolved into critical transportation infrastructure operators that invest capital and resources to empower travellers with more choice and increase local economic opportunity: $25-billion in direct capital investments since 1992 and still counting. Yet, while airport operations have advanced, the core mandate remains the same: to enable the movement of people and goods to, from and through the airports efficiently and safely, even as passenger numbers grow and new and costly safety regulations are introduced.
But airports do not and cannot act alone – the federal government is an important and active partner, affecting every traveller’s experience in ways that they can see, and in ways that they can’t.
Federal budgets and resources allocated to security screening and to border services have a direct impact on wait times and levels of comfort. Yet, with passenger growth of about six per cent a year, budget allocations are not keeping pace. The “misery factor” is growing, particularly at screening. New and proven technologies, such as facial recognition or programs like CATSA Plus, could help speed up many processes, yet we could move more quickly on some of these.
It’s a challenging situation made more complicated by how the federal government treats airports of different sizes. The 26 airports managed by authorities are not only expected to self-fund all operations and improvements, 21 of them are required to pay rent to the federal government – a $368-million bill last year alone. There are about 190 regional airports with access to the federal Airport Capital Assistance Program for safety projects, but its annual budget of $38-million is insufficient and hasn’t increased in 18 years.
Over the past year alone, new runway regulatory requirements have been previewed and will cost airports about $360-million – $165-million of which will be needed at small airports. New regulatory requirements for travellers are coming as well and could impact airports with as few as 100,000 passengers. The safety and the comfort of a diverse range of travellers are the top concern of airports, but at a time when the federal government says it wants to lower costs to travellers, it must recognize that these measures will have a financial impact.
The Canadian Airports Council is the industry association that lobbies the federal government on issues that affect the business interests of Canada’s airports.
Produced by Randall Anthony Communications. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved in its creation.