Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the committee.
Thank you for inviting me here today to present the perspective of the Calgary Airport Authority.
First, I'd like to emphasize that YYC noise management is a priority, as the city now surrounds its major airport.
Airports around the world share similar challenges when it comes to air traffic noise. Airports are the hub for aircraft arrivals and departures, but those aircraft are owned and operated by the air carriers of the world, and the arrivals and departures are directed by Nav Canada. This is important context for our discussions today and for the study you are conducting.
Today I'd like to walk you through three important considerations from the perspective of the Calgary Airport Authority: our economic contributions to the city of Calgary; information about our operations, their impact on our local communities and our approach to noise management; and lastly, some real perspective on the noise calls received from our communities.
I hope to demonstrate how the authority continuously monitors performance to balance airport operations with community concerns, especially during periods of growth, as we are experiencing today.
First, I think it is critical for the committee to understand that the international airports represented here today are economic and employment powerhouses in our respective cities. In Calgary, YYC contributes approximately $8 billion to the city's GDP annually, and 24,000 Calgarians are employed directly at the YYC campus. Nearly 50,000 jobs are created and maintained by our operations, and our airport has continued to grow through the tough economic times in Alberta in recent years, with 3.8% growth in passenger volumes in 2017 and a 7% growth rate to date in 2018. I also have to stress that the growth in demand by our cargo carriers is critical to economic viability and to the city of Calgary. We saw a 7.7% increase in cargo volumes last year alone.
The economic driver that airports are to our cities must be a major consideration as you undertake a review of the impact of aircraft noise. With the number of passengers increasing, we have actually seen a reduction in the total number of aircraft movements from 2016 to 2017 due to upgauging of aircraft. Our average daily movements have dropped from 636 to 615.
In 2017, over 95% of flights at YYC occurred between the hours of 6 a.m. and midnight. This means that less than 5%, or on average only 29 of a total of 615 flights per day, are arriving and departing at YYC between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m.
While airports share similar challenges, it is also important to understand that each airport must address its local concerns, and those concerns may be unique to that airport or to that community.
At YYC, we have an active noise monitoring program; in fact, we have 16 noise monitoring stations throughout the city. We have significant community engagement through consultative committee meetings and ad hoc community open houses. We conduct active investigation of noise concerns. We regularly report information regarding activities at the Calgary airport that impact noise, such as runway closures or construction that results in changed traffic patterns. Finally, we collaborate with Nav Canada and the major air carriers to discuss innovations and industry-leading practices in aircraft noise management at airports.
At the Calgary airport, we have the support of the city and the province in noise management through a commitment to the Calgary International Airport vicinity protection area regulation, a provincial regulation known as the AVPA. The AVPA regulates the development of urban areas in Calgary, as well as Edmonton, based on the noise contours for our city arising from air traffic. The development of the urban landscape of Calgary has largely followed the noise contours, keeping residential developments removed from the highest noise contours.
The third item I would like to discuss is the calls we receive at the airport regarding noise. At YYC, we have continued to receive calls regarding noise and the frequency of air traffic since the opening of our new runway in 2014. We received over 5,700 calls in 2017, a reduction of 11% from 2016. However, what is very important to understand is that a large volume of the calls come from a small group of people. At YYC, five callers made 72% of all the calls received in 2017. That is 4,100 calls from five individuals. Two individuals called over 2,700 times, which is 48% of the calls received. In a city of 1.2 million people, we received calls from less than 3% of the population, or about 400 households.
Restricting air traffic at one airport, as we've seen in Europe, does only one thing: It moves the air traffic to another airport. The demand will remain, and the demand will be serviced somehow.
We cannot remove the noise, but we have to take a balanced approach to managing noise, between the needs of the public—who demand more choices in travel destinations and who are increasingly ordering deliveries online—and the residents of the communities over which aircraft fly, as well as the significant role airports play in the economic development of our cities.
I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.