Canada's Airports Welcome Senate Committee Report on Airports

Committee report timely support for efforts to improve aviation competitiveness in Canada

OTTAWA, June 5, 2012 /CNW/ - The Canadian Airports Council today welcomed the report of the Senate Committee on Transport's aviation study entitled "The Future of Canadian Air Travel: Toll Booth or Spark Plug," saying the report is timely and supports industry efforts to work with government on improving Canada's aviation competitiveness.

"Today's report from the Senate Transport Committee represents the culmination of nearly two years of work by the Senate to conduct a comprehensive study of aviation in Canada," said CAC Chairman Tom Ruth. "Many of the recommendations on airport policy are consistent with our own efforts to work with government and our airline and tourism sector partners to improve the competitiveness of our sector. As our member airports will do in the coming days and weeks, we encourage the government to carefully consider its recommendations."

The senate report includes several themes that airports broadly support:

• That it is time that the Government of Canada stop thinking of airports as sources of public revenue and begin to recognise them as economic "spark plugs" for their communities.
• There is no appropriate "one size fits all" when it comes to how the Government of Canada approaches airport policy and a National Airports System.
• That airport rent should be phased out and ownership of airports be transferred to the local airport authorities that operate them.
• Cross border shopping of air travel by Canadians flying out of neighbouring U.S. airports instead of Canadian ones is a growing concern from coast to coast.
• Airport transit connections should continue to be streamlined.
• Airport governance in Canada is working.

"The Senate's study of Canada's aviation sector - the first in more than a decade - has been one of the most comprehensive aviation studies undertaken in Canada," said CAC President Daniel-Robert Gooch. "After two decades of tremendous change in our industry, a study of this nature is timely and the contents of this report will certainly flavour the nature of our ongoing discussions with government and industry partners. We look forward to seeing the subsequent reports in the committee's work"

During the nearly two-year Senate Committee study, the CAC and its member airports appeared before the committee numerous times. In total, the committee heard from 13 CAC member airport CEOs and chairpersons.

About the Canadian Airports Council

The Canadian Airports Council (CAC), a division of Airports Council International-North America, is the voice for Canada's airports community and the Canadian unit of Airports Council International-North America.  Its 45 members represent more than 200 airports, including all of the National Airports System (NAS) airports and most significant municipal airports in every province and territory. Together, CAC members handle virtually all of the nation's air cargo and international passenger traffic and 95% of domestic passenger traffic. They create in excess of $45 billion in economic activity in the communities they serve.  And more than 200,000 jobs are directly associated with CAC member airports, generating a payroll of more than $8 billion annually.

Daniel-Robert Gooch
President
Canadian Airports Council
[phone] ext 16
[email protected]