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22 WINGS | March/April 2015 WWW.WINGSMAGAZINE.COM

Transport Canada is negotiating bilater-

als. Gooch generally supports Canada’s

current Blue Sky policy introduced in

2006 to open international air routes to

Canada, although admits that bilaterals

are not always pursued in the spirit of

Blue Sky (while diplomatically sidestep-

ping the issue of whether more routes

and frequencies should be granted Emir-

ates, Eithad and Qatar Airways, the so-

called Persian Gulf super connectors).

Despite being cut loose from Transport

Canada and operating as businesses

on equal footing with the airlines they

serve, airports have never had a voice in

negotiations.

“Airports will participate at bilateral

talks in the future, but we will do so

through one representative, which

will be a CAC representative,” Gooch

said. This is in sharp contrast to airline

involvement where there is no limit

on the number of air carriers that can

participate, including companies that

do not operate internationally. “We still

need to tip the balance. We still have

airports that would like to have a direct

stake in the outcome of talks because

they have competitive commercial

interests as well.”

It has been 23 years since Transport

Canada began commercializing air-

ports, and 21-years since the NAS was

introduced, expanding a hybrid model

of local commercial management with

Ottawa as the absent landlord. The

NAS model has come under criticism,

most recently after a severe snowstorm

ground Toronto’s Pearson International

Airport to a halt. A Globe and Mail edi-

torial noted that airport boards of direc-

tors are not accountable to Ottawa or

the public. So is the current model still

serving Canadians?

Gooch agrees. “The model we have

in Canada has served the country very

well,” he notes. “We have seen that $17

billion in infrastructure investment put

into place and we now have the number

one aviation infrastructure in the world.

There are no shareholders in the Cana-

dian model so any operating surpluses

go back to the airport to benefit users.”

Still, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

recently more than doubled its stake in

the U.K.’s Birmingham Airport to 48.25

per cent. The pension fund also has in-

vestments in Bristol Airport in the U.K.

as well as airports in Brussels, Belgium

and Copenhagen, Denmark. The Caisse

de dépôt et placement du Québec has a

12.62 per cent interest in Heathrow. So

why shouldn’t Canadians be able to in-

vest in Canadian airports?

“Investors certainly like airports that

we know,” Gooch said. “But is it the

right move for Canadian consumers and

Canadian communities that relay on air-

ports? It depends on what the objective

is. A lot of people put out privatization as

a panacea for lowering costs for travel-

lers. We are not sure it would be a lower

cost option. A feature of the model, for

example, is airport rent. If you went to a

different model that cost doesn’t neces-

sarily go away. You don’t pay rent to the

federal government, but you are paying

dividends to shareholders and are sub-

ject to taxation at different levels than

you are now.”

Gooch maintains one of the challenges

is that the airport industry is not very

well understood in Canada beyond its

core function of getting passengers to

their flights. They don’t see, for example,

that under the current model, Canadian

airports are a $34 billion industry sup-

porting 405,000 jobs. “The public still

thinks airports are run by the govern-

ment. It can be challenging to get sup-

port for airports influencing government

policy when Canadians think airports

are the government,” he said. The Coun-

cil has embarked on a public aware-

ness campaign that recently included

a splashy supplement in the Globe and

Mail.

Even so, Gooch is not opposed to

changes in the future to the current

model. “Things change in the industry.

You never want to close doors to what

will happen in the years to come.” And

keeping an eye on the next thing is al-

ways front and centre at the CAC.

“Expect passenger facilitation to be a

big theme for airports in the next few

years,” he said. In the next few months

both the CAC and ACI-NA will be mak-

ing presentations on the Beyond the

Border action plan, a declaration signed

between Canada and the U.S. to enhance

security while thinning the border to

accommodate the flow of people and

goods. Gooch also wants to see programs

such as NEXUS between Canada and

the U.S. expanded to likeminded coun-

tries. “It’s about working more closely

together with our international partners

and doing things so that they are seam-

less for the traveller or shipper,” he said.

Facilitating business and frequent

travellers who represent a lower risk

would free up security resources for

those who warrant more attention and

ensure smoother traffic flow. Gooch

would also like to see countries work-

ing together to reduce the need for re-

screening at transfer airports. “People

are getting screened by security around

the world. We need to ensure we are all

screening to comparable standards and

accepting those standards so that we are

not rescreening passengers. That’s a few

years off, but we are working on it.” | W

Statements and results from a 2014

Nanos research public opinion poll

that show what Canadians believe

when it comes to airports

82%

of respondents agree airports

are important as part of Canada’s

transportation network

73%

of respondents agree airports are

important to international trade

70%

of respondents agree agree airports

are important to the local economy

81%

of respondents support using federal

infrastructure funds for safety and

security projects at small and medium

airports

53%

of respondents agree airports are

operated by the government (federal,

provincial or municipal)

THE PUBLIC

PERCEPTION