20-year takeoff

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/01/2017 (3390 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the Winnipeg Airports Authority releases its 2016 year-end results in the coming days, it will record another record passenger year, surpassing the four-million mark.

Twenty years ago, the federal government got out of the airport ownership business, and in Winnipeg, ownership was passed on to the community-based, non-share capital corporation called the Winnipeg Airports Authority Inc. (WAA).

That year, the number of people passing through the old Winnipeg airport terminal building was a modest 2.8 million.

It’s not surprisingly that passenger traffic in and out of Winnipeg has grown as the city has grown. But that growth has far surpassed the federal government’s model that foresaw 2.6 per compounded annual growth. (In 2016, Winnipeg passenger traffic growth at what is now called the Richardson International Airport is going to come in at about six per cent.)

But the transformation of the Winnipeg airport campus over the past 20 years is about more than just increased traffic.

The most obvious and significant transformation in the 3,741-acre airport campus has been the development of the new $500-million-plus terminal building and parkade that’s now five years old.

Growth and development have not ended, but the new terminal was the culmination of substantial developments at the airport campus over the past 20 years that have seen the construction of three hotels, a Canada Post sorting centre, a Greyhound bus terminal, a $50-million aircraft-engine testing facility and significant expansions at StandardAero and Magellan Aerospace operations in adjoining space.

Barry Rempel, the CEO of the WAA, said for the past decade there has been a concerted effort to transform the airport into an engine of growth for the city.

“There has always been a focus on the economic-development impact on what we are doing,” Rempel said. “That means helping to create jobs and to leverage the facilities in ways they have not been leveraged before. Basically, to assist our community in that growth.”

As an example of that, wandering through the lobby of the airport Four Points by Sheraton hotel in the summer or winter, chances are you’ll see well-heeled outdoorsmen on their way to expensive fishing and hunting lodges.

Rempel said 20 years ago the amenities just weren’t there to attract the volume of that type of traveller the airport is now experiencing.

“We’ve worked closely with Travel Manitoba and Economic Development Winnipeg in a way that leverages our facilities and encourages the development of more tourism assets, and there are some great assets here now we did not have before,” he said.

He says it’s become a virtuous circle — with better facilities there are more travellers, which grows the economy, and the more the economy grows the more people travel.

With its growth, the WAA has taken on significant debt — about $600 million in bond offerings to cover the terminal construction costs — and so it needs every penny of those $15 to $25 airport-improvement fees to pay off that mortgage.

Rempel, along with his peers across the country, continues to advocate for a lessening of the fee the WAA pays the federal government — 10 per cent off every dollar in revenue. In 1997, the WAA posted $22 million in revenue. In 2015, it was $111 million. Rempel said the original model forecast the WAA would be at about $35 million in revenue in 2015.

He believes the model of community ownership where the airport assets are managed for the benefit of the community has served Winnipeg well.

“But we don’t get one nickel from any level of government for our operations. We are succeeding, I believe, and we succeed by listening to the community,” he said. “But is the federal government taking more money out of airports than they should? Absolutely.”

The additional traffic at the airport did not happen by accident. WAA officials are in constant negotiations with the air carriers to increase route coverage in and out of Winnipeg. Slow and steady progress has been made so there’s now non-stop service to places such as Phoenix and seasonal service to London, England.

“The carriers have responded,” Rempel said.

Some of that has been because of the fact the new ultra-low-cost carrier, NewLeaf Travel Company, chose Winnipeg as its headquarters.

Even though its arrivals and departures only make up about one per cent of the WAA’s overall plane movements, its presence in Winnipeg has attracted business from other carriers.

Rempel said, “Routes are being flown today that were not flown five years ago.”

For instance, he said WestJet flights out of Winnipeg to Halifax, Hamilton, Victoria and Kelowna might have eventually materialized, but NewLeaf’s presence has sped up that process.

“If you want to get attention brought to your community, having an airline based there certainly helps,” he said.

Over the next 20 years, it might not be reasonable to expect the same rate of growth when it comes to development on the campus, but Rempel is not prepared to bet on that.

At the moment, a 250-acre portion on the west side of the airport is being targeted for development. Meetings have been ongoing with a prospective client that could add another 450 jobs.

Rempel said the WAA works hard at making sure it stays close to its stakeholders and being able to develop at the right pace.

“We’re not being foolhardy and building in the hopes someone is coming,” he said. “We want to meet the community needs by having the right-sized pipe that will be supportive and not restrictive to the economic growth of the city.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca