Calgary International Airport

[CalgaryTiger]

Competition Bureau recommends scaling back foreign ownership restrictions for airlines

Canada should roll back restrictions on foreign ownership for domestic airlines, a new report from the Competition Bureau recommends.

www.ctvnews.ca

I thought the issue was airport fees and they charge as little as they can...

 

[trtcttc]

I thought the issue was airport fees and they charge as little as they can...

This is largely true. Lynx didn't fail because they wanted to make too much profits. US low cost carriers don't fly to Canada because of the landing fees. I think this would be a bad idea. We have a pretty weak aviation sector, Westjet/Porter is private, and Air Canada stock performance is very weak, prime for a foreign takeover. Fares may lower in the short run, but it'd be a pretty significant security risk if the US or China owned all of our airline market, and that's basically the only method of travel between our largest cities.

 

[Nawads]

This is largely true. Lynx didn't fail because they wanted to make too much profits. US low cost carriers don't fly to Canada because of the landing fees. I think this would be a bad idea. We have a pretty weak aviation sector, Westjet/Porter is private, and Air Canada stock performance is very weak, prime for a foreign takeover. Fares may lower in the short run, but it'd be a pretty significant security risk if the US or China owned all of our airline market, and that's basically the only method of travel between our largest cities.

Exactly. I don't see how more foreign investment would help outside of short-term startup costs to increase competition. Otherwise, investors will still want to make a profit long term, and it's not like Air Canada and the rest have overly massive profit margins in recent years.

 

[darwink]

I'm not sure. The theory is correct. The capital issue certainly has raised its head with Flair.

That being said, I don't think it is the the only determinate. Right now a big one, for the outside observor, is a captain and first officer shortage. Another airline starting up and absorbing more of that capacity, while not having as high of utilization due to route planning and or training and type transfer needs, seems counter productive rather than productive. Then you have air frame availability problems due to engine difficulties, constraining capacity where airlines have wanted to do more.

Add to that capacity constraints at the larger airports, due to construction, lack of expansion, and at times Nav Canada, and it pushes towards larger aircraft serving routes less frequently.

It is weird, I think in the short term further consolidation would help more than more competition. Can 3, let alone 4 national airlines survive? Can Canada have the level of service people expect when Q400s are the smallest capacity planes feeding the main lines?

 

[CalgaryTiger]

The issue isn't who's making or not making profits...

I don't exactly know where all the fees go but I decided to see what the fees are at YYC. I don't know how most of these compare with other places but I'll believe the airlines when they say these fees are higher than other places. Even if these were changed to the next highest cost between the comparison countries that could help lower costs, increase competition and then that could low the price of a ticket.

Much like our City rec centres, we don't need to have every facility be world class. Sure YYC is nice but I don't think it's worth the higher fees.

This is from WestJet:

Sky-high costs: Unpacking Canada’s government-imposed air travel fees

Why rising government-imposed fees are keeping air travel out of reach for many Canadians—and what changes could make flying more affordable

www.westjet.com

https://www.yyc.com/Portals/0/2025%20Aviation%20Tariff%20EN%20-%20Final.pdf?ver=oOYn2HPFPFofvcb8r54JyA%3d%3d

What is the preclearance facility?

I assume this is for baggage handling?

I assume this is for the cost to maintain the runways and taxi-ways?

Just a general fee that goes to the terminal costs?

Not sure what triggers this fee to go up?

And the one we all know, the airport improvement fee. This is equal to all other major Canadian airports except YVR, which is only $25 bargain!

 

[darwink]

Maintaining two major runways same as YVR divided over fewer passengers it sucks. A problem of Canada’s model I guess.

But if we changed the model to one where let’s say the feds maintained all the runways, Calgary money would be going to Halifax and Winnipeg — would Calgary end up ahead or behind? I don’t know.

Removing the lease fees, you end up with regular folks subsidizing the top 10% and the top 5% income wise, who fly a lot more. I don’t recall the exact numbers, but beyond a certain income level people fly a lot more, like on average 5 times as much.