High fees, hidden fees keeping Canadians from enjoying competition in air services

The starting and finishing point for many travellers in Prince Rupert
is the Airport Shuttle downtown. Which makes for part of the experience
in accessing the Digby Island Airport

For those who fly in and out of Prince Rupert, a story from last weekend's Globe and Mail makes for a good read and some some insight into how airlines are deciding which communities that they will, or won't add to their destinations listings.

The story which comes with the title "Why is flying in Canada is so expensive? Sky High airport fees don't help", charts the volume of user fees on both passengers and airlines that as the Globe notes, are viewed by one airline executive as among the most expensive in the world.

The culprit towards the increasing cost of air travel according to the story is the volume of fees both up front and hidden that airports assess, whether collecting for federal agencies or towards local airport improvements.

And on the latter, a chart that comes with the story puts Prince Rupert far above many other airports in one category that the Globe collected data towards for their story. 

A chart from a recent Globe and Mail article puts Prince Rupert
atop the  listings when it comes to airport improvement fees 
that are passed along to passengers

Towards the Globe story, the North Coast Review contacted Prince Rupert Airport Manager Michael Pucci who challenged some of the findings from the Globe story and the chart above which references Airport Improvement Fees.  

The YPR manager  pointing towards the YPR airport website for the schedule of fees posted.

Mr. Pucci further observed that "Rupert only has the 1 rate … our charges to the airlines are much smaller than other airports and similar / slightly less than Terrace" 

Mr. Pucci has said he will put together a more fulsome review of some of the Globe themes for us for delivery in the days to come, which we will relay once they are received.

The Globe and Mail article goes on to note that part of the growing volume of increases is due to a range of aviation fees that airports have to pay the Federal government all of it making for somewhat of vicious circle, one which is leaving the air passenger for the most part to foot the bill for everyone.

The Globe story notes that the main impact of the high fees at airports, which account for ten percent of the cost of flying, is that competition is deterred.

One executive for a discount airline, Lynx Air, noted that airport fees are a factor that his airline considers when choosing destinations.

That could be one reason, though there probably are a few others as well, which may account for the lack of any additional services out of Prince Rupert, which has not had any competition in aviation for Air Canada since the days of Hawkair which had served the community until the fall of 2015.

The review by the Globe and Mail also compares the differences between how Canadian and American airports are run, exploring both the Canadian model of a non profit concept, compared to the government operated facilities in the US.

One note of interest from the review is that the significant crunch that came for the Canadian airports in the two years or so of COVID when flight levels dropped; or in the case of Prince Rupert say, were eliminated, something which has added to the burdens of smaller airports across the nation.

Such is the disparity for many communities, that aviation officials are calling on the Federal government to review the way Canadian airports are financed, with a call for redirecting rent toward investments.

The themes of the Globe story which is behind a paywall are well worth exploring. 

So short of taking out a subscription to the national new service, finding someone with a Globe account and skills at copy and paste could give you access to a most interesting and detailed report.

The themes do raise more than a few potential discussion topics for Prince Rupert City Council, which may want to get back into its past practice of inviting Department Heads and organizations like the Prince Rupert Airport Authority to provide public overview of their work at City Council sessions.

With  Mr. Pucci in place since the summer and perhaps now in a position to offer up some background to the local themes. Such an appearance for him and the YPR Board could offer some insight into the challenges, as well as to detail the full list of additional charges facing passengers at the local airport, something that may help towards finding solutions to the local issues.

Considering what seems to be a growing volume of travellers making the hour and half trip to Terrace to access the much larger schedule of available flights, explaining to Prince Rupert travellers why the airlines don't want to fly into Prince Rupert might help in creating the conditions to change those perceptions.

More notes on aviation in the Northwest can be explored from our archive page.