Good morning, and thank you, Mr. Chair.
Honourable members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to speak with you today.
My name is Carmelle Hunka. I am the vice-president, people, risk and general counsel at the Calgary Airport Authority.
Airports play a critical role in ensuring the safety and health of countless travellers, thousands of employees, and the communities we serve. I'm here today to provide an update on our efforts, to call on government for increased collaboration with industry on a national approach to testing, and to support innovations aimed at ensuring the safe return of air travel.
I am pleased to answer any questions you might have.
The Calgary Airport Authority is an enabler to the economies of Alberta and Canada, generating billions to provincial GDP, and employing, directly and indirectly, thousands of Albertans. The YYC Calgary International Airport has proudly played a vital role in Canada’s air transportation ecosystem, and since the onset of the pandemic, YYC remains one of four Canadian airports designated to receive international travellers.
As you know, COVID-19 has had a particularly devastating impact on airports, air carriers, and the thousands of complementary businesses that rely on Canada’s air transportation system. The pandemic decimated demand for travel, erasing almost 25 years of passenger growth at our airport, and bringing us back to the same number of guests we last saw in 1995. Our airport revenues declined 60% year over year, and we’ve taken on an additional $68 million in debt in 2020 in order to maintain our operations.
Despite this, we remain committed to prioritizing the health and safety of passengers and employees. This commitment was recently reflected in YYC’s participation in the international border testing pilot program, in the screening program now offered to our employees, and in our vision for the future.
The international border testing pilot program was implemented to test inbound international travellers at YYC from early November of 2020 to late February of this year. The pilot program offered travellers entering Canada from international destinations an opportunity to reduce the 14-day quarantine following two negative COVID-19 tests. One test was taken at the airport upon arrival, and another six or seven days later. In the event the first test came back negative, travellers could shorten their quarantine, so long as they remained in the province and followed other restrictions.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health considered the pilot project to be a vital tool in identifying variants of concern coming into the province. Overall, health officials determined a positivity rate of 1.37% for the first test, and 0.69% on the second test. We share the view that this data collection has been a success and that airport testing was an effective measure in containing the spread of the virus, notably by providing an important early warning system.
Additionally, the first report of the Minister of Health’s COVID-19 testing and screening expert advisory panel includes the deployment of rapid testing for screening as one of its recommendations.
Having witnessed the value of testing and screening, we’ve implemented voluntary COVID-19 testing for employees and select partners working at the airport. The on-site, 20-minute rapid antigen testing program provides an extra layer of protection for our employees and reduces the risk of asymptomatic transmission.
We are asking our government to collaborate with us and to enable technological advancements in screening protocols, including testing at airports, the effective use of data systems and the implementation of modernized screening infrastructure. We are also following closely on the progress of domestic and international efforts, notably by our G7 partners and the EU, in creating recognized documentation that would facilitate the movement of people across borders while the pandemic is ongoing. In the immediate term, a thoughtful, data-driven and tailored approach to restarting domestic travel is critical. We welcome the government’s participation in such collaborative efforts.
In summary, a unified approach to modernized passenger screening measures and the effective use of robust data systems are vital for restoring confidence in air travel as well as for maintaining the health of air transportation employees, passengers and the communities we serve. We hope to see the government contribute to such efforts.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to answering any questions you might have.