As I was saying, almost entirely through self-financing, that is, through travellers. This approach has enabled Canada to develop an airport infrastructure that is recognized as the best in the world.
Air travel is essential in a country such as Canada. The number of passengers using Canada's airports has jumped 27% since the economic slowdown in 2009. Although airports are making strategic infrastructure investments to meet this demand, they are being stymied by wait times at pre-board screening checkpoints at Canada's largest airports, as well as increasingly by CBSA at our air borders.
At peak travel times passengers can wait more than an hour to get through security at our largest airports. While the rest of the world is setting service standards and applying innovation and a risk-based approach to security, Canada is falling short. This is why we are calling on the government to establish a service standard, so that most passengers will be screened in under 10 minutes, as well as a more nimble funding mechanism for CATSA.
I will shift gears to small-airport concerns. Airports provide infrastructure that is safe and environmentally responsible. However, while the system as a whole is financially self-sufficient, some small airports with lower passenger volumes are challenged to gain sufficient revenue to cover both operations and ongoing capital needs associated with maintaining a safe airport.
The airports capital assistance program was created in 1994 to assist small airports with infrastructure projects. However, with the evolution of safety regulations, technological advances, and inflation, the amount of money provided through ACAP is no longer sufficient.
Meanwhile six small NAS airports in Charlottetown, Fredericton, Gander, London, Prince George, and Saint John are located on federal land, and through a quirk of federal policy are barred from even applying for ACAP or other federal infrastructure programs.
We've received a great deal of support from several of you and your colleagues in the Atlantic caucus on this file, and it is much appreciated. We are calling on government to develop infrastructure options for these small NAS airports, and to reform ACAP so that the program can continue to play a valuable role for the airports that need it.
My final area, airport rent, is a long-standing concern for many airports and air carriers. Last year, NAS airports of all sizes throughout the country paid $323 million in rent to the federal government; that means more than $5 billion since transfer.
Canada's user-pay approach to aviation puts a high emphasis on recovering revenue from air travellers, but as airports operate as not-for-profit businesses, rent is passed on to airport users and air travellers through airport charges.
At 5% to 12%, rent is charged on all of the money raised to build and maintain airport infrastructure so that the taxpayer doesn't have to cover these costs. As a tax on gross revenue, it acts as a disincentive that keeps airports out of business lines with low-margin financial returns. It is also charged on all of the revenue raised from food, shops, and other businesses that airports develop to keep costs to air carriers low.
A reduction in rent would be passed on to users through lower airport charges and debt requirements. At the very least, we say that rent should be eliminated for all airports with fewer than three million passengers. This includes airports like Charlottetown, Moncton, and Victoria, where rent can have a significant financial impact.
If rent is to be charged to larger airports, we contend it should no longer apply to revenue from non-aviation businesses developed to keep airline costs low or to revenue raised to fund capital projects. Ideally, we would like to see a cap on rent so that it no longer continues its upward trajectory. This cap would deliver significant savings-building over time. Any rent collected by government should be more fully redistributed within the industry to fix the challenges I'll outline later such as screening, border services, and capital funding for small airports.
When it comes to air transport, the good news and the bad news are the same: traffic continues to grow; runways and buildings need to be maintained; security threats continue to evolve; our work never ends; we are never done. But the fundamentals of our sector are solid, and there are ways that we can do some of this a lot better.
Thank you for your time.