Transport committee  We're about 50% of capacity at Pearson, so half of their raison d'être is us.

Transport committee  It's really difficult to quantify the indirect economic benefit of an airline, because there are all kinds of modelling that could be done for how much a passenger spends when he arrives in Canada and how much a connecting passenger is worth. What if they're buying two bottles at duty-free?

Transport committee  Absolutely.

Transport committee  To your first point, certainly an argument can be made. Theoretically, airlines could readjust aircraft to certain new routes, but I think that discounts the human factor. As I mentioned in my presentation, airlines represent 43,000 employees. Those are employees in places like Windsor, where having a commercial aviation industry is an important part of that town.

Transport committee  We haven't done that analysis. What I will say is that if the fees and taxes levied on Canadian passengers were reduced, one could reasonably assume that more Canadians would fly, and there would be more flights because it would be a more accessible product to sell. If they were reduced concurrent with the introduction of a competing service, I think it's very difficult to predict what the outcome would be.

Transport committee  As regards the public investment that was made in airports, when that asset was turned over to airport authorities across the country, off the top of my head, I would guess that the book value they estimated was $1.9 billion. The airport rent that has been collected since those assets were divested by the federal government has far exceeded that.

Transport committee  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address the committee on such an important issue. I am here today representing the National Airlines Council of Canada, but I also work for one of that organization's members, Air Canada, and so some of my comments will relate to that experience in particular.