Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for their patience and their presentations.
I would like to address Ms. Pasher.
You were obviously following our previous study on competition as a result of Lynx going bankrupt, essentially, and filing for creditor protection. We talked about a number of airlines that have suffered a similar fate. We had the major airlines and some of the smaller airlines as well come before the committee. All of them referenced airport fees as a key inhibitor to being able to offer lower fares and thereby increase competition.
We've heard all of them, and lots of stakeholders, say that perhaps the solution is that the federal government should stop collecting the $400 million in airport rents and put it in general revenue and reinvest it, or not collect it altogether and let the airports spend that money in another way.
My question is this: If the federal government were to eliminate, reduce or return those airport rents that are currently charged, would there be any noticeable impact to passengers in terms of lower fares, or would the airport simply keep that revenue, keep their airport improvement fees where they are and keep the amount they charge to airlines to fly out of those airports the same? What would be the benefit to consumers or passengers if the government were to reduce or eliminate those airport rents?