Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to address you today on the subject of Canada's international air bilaterals.
I understand you have already heard from Vancouver Airport Authority, which is one of our member airports. My comments will be presented on behalf of our broader membership, which includes 45 members operating more than 100 airports around the country, including all of Canada's major international gateways.
As we detailed in our recent submission to the Honourable David Emerson on the Canada Transportation Act review, which I will table with this committee to review as well, international air travel has been an area of strong growth for Canada's airports particularly over the last decade. Over the past few years it has surpassed U.S. transborder traffic as the second-biggest component of traffic in much of our country.
Airports represent trade-enabling infrastructure, and bilateral air agreements are the rules by which aviation is able to support Canada's free trade agenda in the outside world. Indeed the addition of just one new daily overseas route into a Canadian airport supports hundreds of direct jobs, with an even greater impact on the local economy through improved trade and business links.
Over the past decade we have seen the opening up of air access between Canada and many of our most important partners for trade and tourism. Landmark agreements with the United States and the European Union have punctuated this period, but there have also been new and improved agreements with other important markets like Brazil, South Korea, Turkey, Japan, and China. These agreements open significant opportunities for trade and tourism for Canada and the communities our members serve. This is why in our CTA review submission, the CAC has called for Canada to seek open skies agreements with Canada's free trade partners.
Our members compete with each other as well as with destinations in other countries for the air services of domestic and foreign air carriers that can develop when an agreement is opened up. As a result, specific views on this topic can vary significantly from community to community and on a case-by-case basis depending on the country we are dealing with.
Our members communicate their views directly with the federal government regarding priorities for new negotiations and specific air access issues to be tackled by Canada's negotiating team. Accordingly, it is often inappropriate for the CAC to weigh in on the merits of liberalization with individual markets. However, Canada's airports generally agree broadly on several points. First is that the blue sky policy serves as an effective policy framework for Canada to endorse the principle that liberalization of air regimes is generally very good for Canada. There has been some concern that sometimes the policy is not pursued in a manner consistent with the spirit of its intent, but in general Canada has done well with this policy.
Canada's airports represent the communities they serve. Airports are locally oriented non-share capital corporations with a business development mandate to support their communities and their communities' economies. This is why there is a long-standing request by the CAC that airports with a commercial stake in the outcome of talks be afforded observer status at these talks the same way Canadian carriers are. We were pleased to see this request partially granted last year when the CAC was notified that we would be able to send a single representative to future air bilateral negotiations. We have yet to participate at any talks as none have been scheduled since we were notified of the change in policy, but we are confident that over time this opportunity will be a positive addition to the discussions by providing a vehicle for community-level concerns and by improving transparency and accountability.
Nevertheless, each of our members has its own commercial interests at stake. We see this as an important first step towards individual airports eventually being able to directly observe talks with markets of particular commercial interest just as any Canadian carrier can do today.
Finally, while international air agreements are important to opening up trade and air travel between markets, they are not the only important factor. There remains, for example, significant opportunity for new services in many of the existing air service bilaterals we have today. There are areas of visa policy that are just as important, which is why we have been working with citizenship and immigration Minister Chris Alexander, for example, on expanding and improving the transit without visa program to expand Canada's share of connecting passengers who support new and existing international air routes. Canada has a tremendous opportunity to grow this market and to take advantage of big growth expected in markets like Asia to Latin America.
Other important competitive factors include the growing concern with wait times at security screening throughout the country, particularly at Canada's largest airports, and Canada's cost-competitiveness environment. These are both areas under direct control of the federal government and are equally important to address if Canada is to take full advantage of significant opportunities for trade and tourism that can be afforded by growing international air travel to, from, and through Canada.
Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, being mindful of time, I will end my comments here. I look forward to any questions you may have.
Thank you.