International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon. I am Jerry Staples, vice-president of air service, marketing and development for the Halifax Stanfield International Airport Authority. Tom Ruth, our president and CEO, sends his regrets and greetings. He is unable to be here because of sc

International Trade committee  There is a challenge in the pricing because the belly capacity in a passenger aircraft is sold off at wholesale prices compared to a dedicated freighter operation. My point for Halifax was that as we build passenger services on larger aircraft, we get a belly capacity that will b

International Trade committee  Thank you. Yes, it is a world-class airport, and we win awards on a consistent basis. Having built the infrastructure and the cluster around that, there are not many airports in Canada that can boast two airlines being headquartered there: Chorus Aviation, through Jazz, flying f

International Trade committee  We have land that is earmarked for development in an airside subdivision that currently has cargo operations. Gateway Facilities is the largest, which I referenced in my remarks. The highest and best use for those lands will be further cargo development. As we see Gateway go to

International Trade committee  Yes, on several fronts. We work one on one with particular companies that are exporting and/or importing. We are members of the Lobster Council of Canada. We host what I call a “focus on freight” forum, and it usually meets three times a year. They are freight forwarders and ship

International Trade committee  I guess I'm talking about perishable products, about products moving eastbound to Europe. The planes need full flights in both directions. If you look at products that are being brought in to North America, in particular to Boston and New York airports, and some of their competit

International Trade committee  It's heavily dependent on fish at this point, but there are other fresh products such as blueberries that go fresh to market.

International Trade committee  I think there are two. One, quickly, would be building the markets in Europe and having the financial resources to do that in a unified way as a community of various stakeholders. The second would be to attract that capacity to actually move the product. The second one is pro

International Trade committee  We do that. Quickly, we have a costing model we can show people who are moving goods how they'll save money by bringing it through Halifax instead of Logan and New York. There is also the fact that one of the really simple things here is that you're hitting land in North America

International Trade committee  I guess there are still a lot of unknowns at this point. We see the timing issue as being important, and the fact that we need government departments to align what they need to do to remove the barriers. If there's activity, the growth potential can be achieved.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Madame Chair, and members of the committee, for this opportunity. Joyce Carter, president and CEO of Halifax International Airport Authority, sends her regrets and asked that I appear on her behalf. The Halifax Stanfield International Airport is the largest passeng

International Trade committee  At the risk of sounding like I'm doing a commercial, Halifax Stanfield has been a leader in customer service for a number of years, so security, specifically with CATSA lineups or a lineup at a parking garage trying to exit, is fundamental to our concerns. Whether they're in our

International Trade committee  Thank you. Halifax averages 1.5% to 2% nominal growth. In 2006 U.S. pre-clearance opened at Halifax, the only airport in Atlantic Canada to have that. At that time, the business case projected 323,000 passengers within the first five years of operation and within the first 12 mo

International Trade committee  Again, we're doing 3.6 million passengers, and for the physical building itself we're probably good to five million. But if we take advantage of some of the programs that have been mentioned, we will have to make some modifications to the building for traffic flow.

International Trade committee  Halifax is just below average in fees.