BRIEF FROM THE HALIFAX
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY (HIAA)
Preamble
Canada’s airports are essential components of the economic and
transportation infrastructure of this country. Airports link Canadian
communities to key national and international markets, create hundreds of
thousands of jobs and generate billions in tax revenue for all levels of
government every year.
Halifax International Airport Authority operates, maintains and
develops Halifax Robert L. Stanfield International Airport under a ground lease
with Transport Canada. Halifax Stanfield is Atlantic Canada’s principal
full-service airport providing passengers and cargo clients with access to
markets across Canada, the United States and Europe. It’s the only airport in
Atlantic Canada to offer Canada Customs services on a 24 hour, seven day a week
basis, and U.S. preclearance.
The Airport, a major economic generator valued at over $1.25
billion to the provincial economy, welcomes over 3.5 million passengers
annually; gives back through its Community Outreach Program and its Signature
Partnership with Habitat for Humanity; and is an internationally recognized
leader in customer service, having been rated the Best Airport in the World in
its class for seven of the past eight years and certified as Airport Service
Quality Assured – an industry benchmark of service excellence.
Halifax Stanfield works through the Canadian Airports Council (CAC)
to promote the need for the Canadian government to address competitiveness challenges
of the Canadian aviation industry.
There is increasing concern within Canada’s aviation sector about
the growing phenomenon of Canadians travelling across the land border with the
U.S. to access cheaper tickets available out of U.S. airports.
While ticket prices can be comparable on both sides of the border,
Canada’s fiscal policies toward the aviation sector have resulted in a cost
competitive disadvantage for the Canadian sector.
Airport Rent
Halifax International Airport Authority feels that airport rent should
be rationalized, as this is an integral part of making the Canadian aviation
industry more competitive and productive. The rationalization of airport rent
can take a progressive, staged approach that might include several different
approaches that the Airport Authority requests the Government of Canada to
consider.
HIAA recommends that the rationalization of airport rent include
such steps as:
· An immediate cap on the rent payable by an airport to a magnitude
not to exceed the government estimate of rent to paid by each airport that was
published when the rent formula was changed in 2006.
· Elimination of Airport Improvement Fee revenue from the formula
that establishes rent payable.
· The credit or reduction of the gross revenue determination to
reflect other costs of capital investment programs, such as debt servicing costs.
· A staged reduction of the applicable rent percentage scale to ultimately
result in a no rent situation for all airports.
Foreign Trade Zones
Halifax International Airport Authority is a member of the Foreign
Trade Zone Coalition comprising major Canadian airports and transport
providers.
Based on the Government of Canada’s commitment in Budget 2011 to “an
examination of Canada’s current foreign trade zone-like policies and programs”,
HIAA encourages the Standing Committee on Finance to endorse the following
recommendations established by the FTZ Coalition:
1. Amendments to Canada’s Foreign Trade Zone-like programs
to:
· Restructure and integrate the current federal programs to
simplify access to them, and provide a single federal point of contact for
potential users;
· Reduce or remove the restrictions on added value;
· Allow companies that sell a significant proportion of their
production within Canada to participate; and
· Allow the deferral of GST/HST until the product departs the FTZ
to the Canadian market.
2. The opportunity for private sector agencies and regional entities to
define local marketing zones linked to major gateways or corridors to promote
and market these areas and Canada’s FTZ-like programs effectively in domestic
and foreign markets.
3. The establishment of a federal umbrella program to provide modest
financial support for locally based zones and marketing, subject to matching
provincial and local financial support, and provide direct liaison between
related federal agencies and local marketing zones.
Airport Policing/Security Fees
The Government of Canada announced in its 2009 budget that it was
unilaterally eliminating its subsidy for airport policing and security fees in
2010. This costs Halifax International Airport Authority almost $1 million per
year.
As this amount comes directly off the Airport Authority’s bottom
line, this has a significant effect on the Authority’s financial position.
In recognition of the role that Canadian airports can play in
Canada’s economic development, it’s requested that this financial support be
reinstated so the Government of Canada can assist its airports in playing an
even more important role in the economic future of our country.