Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, members of the committee.
My name is Carmelle Hunka, and I am a vice-president at the Calgary Airport Authority. I'm very pleased to be before the committee today on behalf of the authority.
I want to open by stating that the experience we provide to guests at YYC Calgary International Airport relies on multiple partners to ensure travellers are provided with a smooth and efficient experience. These include airlines and our government partners, such as Transport Canada, CATSA, CBSA and PHAC. YYC Calgary International Airport has adapted and continues to effectively adapt to changing measures and emerging concerns at airports. Creating positive travel experiences for air passengers involves all partners doing their part.
With this in mind, the Calgary Airport Authority is pleased with the federal government's recent announcements removing mandatory random testing for arriving international air passengers and making the use of the ArriveCAN app and masks optional. The removal of these last restrictions allows Canadians to travel free of restrictions consistent with the rest of the world and allows our industry to be in a strong position to recover.
As with other airports across Canada, the pandemic has had an enormous impact on our operations. In 2019, we welcomed 18 million passengers to the Calgary International Airport and generated $8 billion of GDP, an all-time high. As the pandemic hit, the impact to our airport was catastrophic. Total passenger volume fell to 5.7 million passengers in 2020, and only slightly recovered to 6.3 million passengers in 2021, but we are on the road to recovery.
In 2022, we are estimating that passenger volume will more than double to 14.3 million passengers travelling through our airport over the course of the year, a welcome improvement though still well below the 2019 level of passenger volume. We're proud to report that YYC was the most recovered major airport in Canada with passenger volumes in July and August reaching 2019 passenger volumes. The stronger we are at YYC, the greater our contributions are to the city, the region and the country as a whole.
A huge success story for YYC was the implementation of virtual queuing for our security screening points. Known as YYC Express, virtual queuing involves passengers signing up online up to four days in advance of their flight to secure a space in line at one of our security screening points. This allowed YYC to spread passengers out to some of the less busy screening points during the peak periods, alleviating wait times. YYC Express gives passengers a stated time in the queue providing certainty and minimizing time in the security screening line. YYC Express was very successful, such that now other airports in Canada will be implementing and adopting the technology for their own versions of this virtual queuing.
This virtual queuing was implemented and funded solely by the Calgary Airport Authority. We pay for the staff to manage the queue, to scan the QR codes and to implement the technology associated with the queuing. We funded YYC Express at the same time as we were required to take on almost $300 million in additional debt during the pandemic—an investment in providing a more efficient experience for our guests.
We call on the federal government to invest in technology to assist in the guest experience, such as virtual queuing, improved screening equipment that can provide a seamless experience to travellers, and technology where guests can move through customs and immigration more efficiently.
With respect to the ground lease, we request additional items to ask for a reduction in red tape. First, we recommend modernization of the ground lease compliance requirements. Great administrative expense is expended by airports on an annual basis to meet administrative compliance requirements to demonstrate that we're in compliance with our lease. Most critically, the rent payments the authority makes to the federal government through its ground lease are a significant airport expense. In July and August alone, YYC will pay over $2 million each month in federal rent and receive nothing in return. In 2020, the ground lease payments were waived in response to an unpredictable and drastic decline in customer volume, but the 2021 ground lease payments were only deferred to be paid at a later date. While we welcomed this support, the government's approach to lease payments was not sufficient to offset the continued decline in revenue we experienced as a result of the pandemic.
As its tenant, the authority is looking for the federal government to reinvest its ground lease rent payments back into the airport through investments in environmentally sustainable core infrastructure, and we ask for reintroduction of funding for critical capital projects through the national trade corridors fund or reintroduction of ACIP.
Thank you.