Thanks for the invitation to speak to you today about this. I'm going to focus, particularly, on our airport, which is the Smithers Regional Airport, or YYD. It's owned by the Town of Smithers, which is a community of about 5,400 people, with a service area of about 20,000, including many other small communities and indigenous communities.
Before the pandemic, YYD was run like a business, and it essentially it paid for itself. We had 68,000 passengers in 2019. Last year, in 2021, we had 37,000, which was at about 50-60% of revenues. Prepandemic, scheduled passenger service was provided by two airlines: Air Canada and Central Mountain Air. There were four flights per day. Today, there is one flight, provided by Air Canada in a Q400 with a 78-passenger capacity.
The airport provides a base for charters to remote camps and tourism lodges for fishing, hunting, etc. Our hospital also receives patients from across northwest B.C., with about 260 air medevacs per year. The airport plays a role during emergencies. During recent extraordinary wildfires, the airport was a base for wildfire crews, aircraft and military personnel. Of course, residents choose where they want to live based on amenities.
In the last few years, we've made many improvements to the airport, terminal modernization and runway. Coming up next will be runway lights, etc. We are very much a grant-dependent airport. We're grateful for those grants, as well as for COVID money and money from the regional air transportation initiative.
Research shows that the Smithers Regional Airport is one of the lowest-cost airports for an airline to land a Q400—that is the aircraft currently being used by Air Canada—so it's not the fees that we charge that deter flights. That said, we do have a passenger fee to help with revenues.
The question is whether government red tape makes airports more expensive. Probably, but some regulations can be difficult. Some safety regulations, I suggest, are well accepted.
I want to suggest, though, that there may be a different view on regulations that could help airports in communities like ours, which are reliant on one airline. During the pandemic, the Canadian government offered support to airlines. I support that, and I think it's time to offer that to small and medium-sized airports.
Consider regulation that might link miles flown to the price charged. For example, in our area, flying from Terrace to Vancouver and Smithers to Vancouver are about the same mileage, and the same aircraft is often used. However, it is often way more expensive to fly from Smithers. People comment that you can buy a ticket to other parts of Canada—other parts of the world sometimes, for less—and that unfair pricing hurts small communities. It's not just Smithers.
Don't get me wrong. I am happy to have Air Canada serve our community. I flew with them yesterday and I'll fly home from Regina on Air Canada. However, if there isn't competition, there needs to be a reasonable way to regulate it so that one community isn't paying a higher price than its neighbour for the same service, the same aircraft and the same distance.
Residents choose to drive, sometimes on very dangerous winter roads, to save money. Businesses and industries choose to locate themselves at and operate from other bases.
A lack of consultation on scheduling hurts too. Last year, ski operators had to scramble after a late-season schedule change affected their clients, driving them to other airports. I'm hearing the same from guide outfitters in our community who are finding their clients are being driven away because the current one flight per day on an early morning schedule doesn't suit them.
Air Canada has too big an influence on the health and future of our community. Its use of third party contractors at the airport further reduces the quality of experience for passengers when a flight's delayed or bags are lost. The people behind the counter don't work for the airline. They work for a contractor who can't offer them help. They're told instead to phone the airline, and we all know that phoning an airline, especially when a whole planeload of people are trying to phone, doesn't help.
Customers don't understand the nuance of who works for whom, and our airport gets the blame. Air Canada's going to get those passengers anyway, especially if people have to drive down the road simply to fly from Terrace or Prince George. It doesn't provide a reason for them to work with us. I suggest reasonable regulation could create a path toward an equitable system for small airports like YYD, which is so critical to our community, as the airport is such a significant cultural and economic driver.
I have one other area, and I might not get through it in time. It's about transport or landing systems, but I want to focus on this piece about the regulation for airlines when we have one airline with no competition. We really can't afford to have more and more people leaving small towns because of a lack of opportunity. Our cities can't support more people, and citizens want to live in different parts of our province and country. In this day and age, though, we can't thrive without adequate air access.
I understand the need to review regulations and to remove those that no longer serve a purpose. I urge you, though, to consider the upside of regulation, which is to create fairness. We at the Town of Smithers do not have a lot of clout with Air Canada, yet our economic health is tied to the decision-making of that airline. We are ready to be part of a successful network of regional airports, serving our residents and our neighbours and jumping into provincial emergencies when we need to, but reliable, fairly priced, quality air service is essential to our community.
I'll stop there to make way for questions.
