Good morning, members of the committee, and thank you for the invitation.
My name is Suzanne Acton-Gervais. With me today are some members of the National Airlines Council of Canada's executive committee and board of directors: Mr. David Rheault, vice-president, Government and Community Relations, Air Canada; Mr. Howard Liebman, senior director, Government and Community Affairs, Air Transat; and Mr. Andy Gibbons, vice-president, Government and Regulatory Affairs, WestJet.
The National Airlines Council of Canada is an association of Canada's four largest passenger airlines: Air Canada, WestJet, Air Transat and Jazz Aviation.
As airlines, we operationalize and implement policies on behalf of the federal government.
Prior to the pandemic, the council members collectively carried more than 80 million passengers per year. Airports were experiencing unprecedented growth and passenger volumes. Canadians were better connected to each other and to the world than ever before.
Few industries have been as impacted by the pandemic as Canada's airlines and their workers. We were the first hit, the hardest hit and the last to recover. ln order to recover, airlines must be competitive in a global context.
Our members serve over 302 destinations across the world. However, Canada's legacy public health restrictions, many of which remain in place exclusively for travel, set us apart from a growing list of over 50 countries that have removed barriers to travel altogether.
Since the outset of the pandemic, airlines have worked to protect employee and passenger health. Our most valuable asset will always be our people, and the airline sector needs more workers to support the return to travel. However, we rely on the Government of Canada to process credentials for airline workers and travellers at a speed that keeps pace with Canadian travellers' needs and our member airlines' operations. Transport Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, Service Canada, airports and Nav Canada all need to be properly resourced to ensure that travel and tourism can resume to prepandemic levels.
Travellers need confidence that their journey can be predictable, timely and enjoyable, with clear service standards. Recent reports of backlogs at airports and excessive wait times are concerning, and must be immediately addressed and rectified by the federal government.
We are meeting today during tourism week in Canada. We welcome the supportive statements made by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Tourism and others. However, I would say to them that one of the most important actions they can take right now to support Canadian tourism is to address the untenable situation at our airports.
Before I conclude, I would note that Canada's airlines are customers of Canadian airports and of Nav Canada. ln Canada, it is well documented that high taxes and fees imposed on Canadian airlines and travellers create a competitive disadvantage for Canada's aviation industry versus other jurisdictions. These include airport rents, air traveller security charges, airport improvement fees, Nav Canada navigation fees and city taxes, among others. The pandemic highlighted flaws in Canada's user-pay model and exacerbated this competitive disadvantage.
Facing fewer travellers during the pandemic, a number of institutions increased their fees to compensate. When combined, these fees hamstring the aviation sector and associated local economic benefits. The federal government could take the immediate step of reviewing all third party fees and charges and consider reinvesting these amounts back into the airports.
With the continued cooperation of the federal government, Canada's airlines will contribute to a return to the connected lifestyle that matters to all of us. We need to connect people to each other and Canada to the world to keep our economy moving.
Thank you.
We look forward to your questions.