Thank you. Good afternoon.
The Air Transport Association of Canada has represented this country's commercial air transport industry since 1934. Our 175 members are engaged in all levels of commercial aviation and flight training in every region of Canada. Our membership includes very large international and transborder carriers, regional carriers, flight training organizations as well as the Canadian air transport support industry.
The obvious focus for the past two years has been on getting through the pandemic and now on the road to recovery in a vastly different socio-economic environment where consumer behaviour has been forever modified. Not only is it extremely difficult to predict the future demand for air travel, our industry and the travelling public are facing cost increases that could completely alter the demand.
Inefficient government services at the department, within airports' security and at customs are only adding to the chaos. The fact that Canada lagged behind the world in eliminating COVID-related health restrictions certainly has not helped create the winning conditions that we so urgently need.
To limit further serious damage to the air transport industry and to help us work towards full recovery, and thus enable Canada's economic recovery, the government needs to change its attitude towards aviation in Canada. The government must stop thinking of the air transport industry as a revenue stream. No other mode of transport is targeted the way the air transport industry is. Why, on the one hand, does the government draw over $1 billion from fees and charges from aviation, which are not found in any other mode of transport, while on the other hand finance passenger rail in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars?
Total Via Rail passenger count in 2020 was 1.15 million, a 75% drop over 2019, a percentage loss similar to that of air transport in the same period. Yet, Via Rail received operational and capital subsidies of $669 million in 2020, that is $582 per passenger.
Need I remind this committee that Via Rail carries less than five million passengers on a good year as compared to close to 150 million passengers in aviation. One could easily conclude that aviation is subsidizing rail in this country.
To limit the crippling damage to the Canadian air industry, the government needs to implement the following ten recommendations.
One, stop using aviation as a revenue stream.
Two, failing that, at least reinvest aviation-generated revenues back into the aviation sector.
Three, seriously consider regional aviation as a vital link in Canada's connectivity.
Four, invest in regional and northern air infrastructure since the user-pay model just can't sustain operations in these regions that depend almost entirely on aviation. This is the key to their ability to provide the service needed to support the unobstructed flow of passengers throughout Canada. Not only do the remote and northern airports offer a vital socio-economic link to the rest of Canada, but many of them are important feeders of international passengers to and from other Canadian airports.
Five, establish a federally backed funding program for all students attending designated learning institutions offering professional flight training or post-secondary institutions providing Transport Canada-approved air transport maintenance engineer programs that are accredited by the provincial acts, such as the Ontario Private Career Colleges Act. This would help attract the increased number of pilot and maintenance trainees so desperately needed to address future shortages that are already on our doorsteps today.
Six, fix the backlog and processing of student visas and work permits in the world of aviation. This recommendation is for the Minister of Immigration.
Seven, privatize the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority at no cost to the air transport industry or their passengers. In other words, abandon the idea of imposing a $600‑million price tag for assets already paid for many times over by passengers through the Air Travellers Security Charge.
Eight, consider Nav Canada as an essential service and support it financially should they sustain another such catastrophic drop in revenue because of a national crisis rather than force it to increase fees to air carriers.
Nine, instead of spending money on politically motivated projects, such as high-frequency rail that traffic volumes will never justify nor financially sustain, the government needs to develop, in co-operation with industry, a national air transport policy focused on multimodality. This would yield economic, connectivity and environmental benefits.
Ten and finally, keep in mind that air transport is now a way of life. In fact, it's a way of survival for many. It's not a luxury, but an economic enabler.
Thank you.