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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Cargo shipments flying high

Winnipeg airport outshines entire continent

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 05/6/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

WINNIPEG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PHOTO Enlarge Image

Winnipeg’s new 51,000-square-metre airport terminal, currently under construction, is a great source of pride for the Winnipeg Airports Authority.

Winnipeg's Richardson International Airport was the best-performing cargo airport on the continent in 2009, according to the chief executive of Winnipeg Airports Authority.

Barry Rempel told the WAA's annual meeting Wednesday that in spite of a global recession, the WAA still managed to increase cargo shipments through the Winnipeg airport by 7.5 per cent to 159,400 tonnes in 2009.

"That's something that was unheard of in the aviation industry," Rempel said. "Everybody else was down 15 or 16 per cent in cargo tonnage."

In its annual report, the WAA said one of the reasons for the Winnipeg airport's strong performance was that the core of its cargo business is express and postal traffic. And that's less affected by economic downturns than general cargo, which is what a lot of other major airports rely upon.

Michael Rodyniuk, WAA's chief operating officer, said Winnipeg also saw an increase in regular charter flights to countries like China, Japan, Korea, Germany and Chile, which also boosted cargo volumes.

Rempel said cargo will become an even bigger part of the airport's operations if government and business leaders succeed in establishing an inland port on a 20,000-acre parcel of land west of the airport.

The goal of the CentrePort Canada initiative is to establish the area as a hub for the manufacturing, warehousing and distribution of goods in North America.

Rempel described the inland port project as "probably one of the most important opportunities that we, as a community, have." He said it could not only mean a lot more cargo flights for the airport, but could create new opportunities for the WAA to develop vacant land it owns on the north and west sides of the airport.

The airport campus has seen an explosion of new development in the last five years, with the centrepiece being a new airport terminal that's scheduled to open later this year. The WAA takes possession in July and opens the terminal to the public sometime between early October and the beginning of the Christmas rush.

A good portion of Rempel's presentation was dedicated to showing off what the inside of the new 51,000-square-metre terminal will look like when it's finished, as well as photos of the construction underway.

While the new terminal is a great source of pride for WAA officials, Rempel and board chariman Art Mauro said one thing they're not proud of is the diminished role the airport now plays in the servicing and development of Canada's North.

They said Winnipeg used to be a major gateway for passenger and cargo flights in and out of the North, as well as a key service centre for the region.

"But in the last 10 years we've kind of ignored it," Rempel said in an interview. "And it's to our peril."

He said there's a lot of new mining development taking place in Nunavut, for example, and Winnipeg is well positioned geographically to service those developments. He said the areas the WAA wants to target are Nunavut, northern Manitoba, northeastern Saskatchewan and northwestern Ontario.

He said talks are underway with government and private-sector organizations in the region to see what kinds of services the region needs and how the WAA could provide them.

He said it fits in with the WAA's broader goal of providing a higher level of service and creating new sources of revenue for its operations.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 6, 2010 B9

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