Thank you.
Mr. Chairperson and members of the committee, on behalf of Atlantic Canada's airports, it is a pleasure to be here today as part of your study on aviation safety. The Atlantic Canada Airports Association has 12 airport members responsible for nearly all passenger and cargo traffic in our four-province region.
My name is Glenn Mahon, and I'm the director of operations for St. John's International Airport. While we are a medium-sized airport nationally, we're actually the second-largest airport in the region after Halifax, with about 1.5 million passengers last year. For some context, that compares with about 46 million passengers at Toronto Pearson. By contrast, passenger levels at the 11 other ACAA airports range from about 52,000 passengers at Bathurst to 3.9 million passengers a year in Halifax.
Mr. Maybee and I work closely together as part of the CAC's operation safety and technical affairs committee, and many of his concerns are shared by airports in our region, albeit often with smaller operational teams and fewer resources with which to address similar challenges. Through the ACAA and the CAC, collaboration with the aviation community is a tremendously important way for us to extend our airports' reach and capabilities and address safety-related concerns. It also helps us communicate collectively with the regulator in ways each airport would be challenged in doing individually, on points of mutual interest.
Like Edmonton, St. John's International Airport is one of the 21 national airports system airports that have been responsible for funding almost all of their own operating infrastructure and capital costs. St. John's was the recipient of rare federal funding in 2011 under the Atlantic gateways program, when matching government funds were provided for installation of a $37 million instrument landing system to significantly enhance safety and improve service in our foggy part of the country.
While St. John's is able to self-fund investments in its own safety infrastructure, support from the federal and provincial governments was important to implement this project. For many smaller airports with lower traffic volumes than ours, projects cannot proceed on revenue from operations and airport improvement fees alone. This is why the federal government created the airports capital assistance program.
Designed in the 1990s for airports with fewer than 525,000 passengers a year, ACAP has about $38.5 million a year for safety and security-related projects, safety systems, and essential equipment. While it is not a program for medium-sized airports like St. John's, it is very important for small airports in our region and throughout Canada. Unfortunately, ACAP money has not increased since the program was created 20 years ago, while airport costs have increased significantly over the same period.
Six of the smallest NAS airports, four of which are located in Atlantic Canada, are ineligible for ACAP because they are located on federal land. My colleagues at these airports have been working on a change to this inequity for six years, but while they have received a lot of support from MPs in the region and even Minister Garneau himself, this is still an outstanding safety-related infrastructure concern.
Regulatory requirements for runway end safety areas anticipated in the next few months will further impact an as-yet-unknown number of small airports. Runway upgrades could cost tens of millions of dollars for each airport affected, a significant financial cost burden affecting airports without access to any federal programs, which will have to be covered through an increase in user fees. But there is strong pushback from air carriers against any increase in user fees.
While there is agreement among all that the issue of runway overruns requires attention, airports also require sound justification from Transport Canada for the financial and operational challenges they will be facing in implementing RESAs. Safety improvements should be supported by sound root cause analysis and be proportional to risk.
We have noted some discussion in this committee on safety management systems, which is an invaluable approach to aviation safety that industry experts perhaps need to do a better job of explaining. Rest assured that aviation safety is our top priority and an ongoing team effort. Technology is constantly improving, and we are frequently learning new and better ways to operate airports safely.
The Canadian regulatory environment is evolving and modernizing as well, in part to keep up with ever-changing international safety standards. SMS establishes accountability with its top-down approach and the identification of an accountable executive, which is typically the airport CEO or a senior executive. With senior management support, the system focuses on a proactive approach to safety through the implementation and progressive improvement of regular airside inspection and monitoring programs in an effort to identify and mitigate safety risks before they result in accidents. In essence, it keeps safety at the forefront within the organization.
In closing, I would like to say that co-operation within the industry is one of the greatest strengths of the Canadian aviation sector today, and it is essential in a country like Canada where aviation is built on a network of independently operated local airports.
I thank you again for the opportunity to present here today, and I look forward to answering any questions.
Thank you.