Airport Participation in Air Service Talks
At air service talks, negotiating teams strive to ensure the views of affected “industry” are represented on their teams. In contrast to U.S. air service talks, where the airline and airport sectors are both represented through observer participants, on Canadian teams, typically only airlines have been permitted to participate. This means that the interests of airports, and the communities they serve, are unrepresented.
The CAC participated as observers in air service agreement talks for the first time with the fall 2005 talks between Canada and the U.S. that successfully resulted in an Open Skies agreement. The CAC also is participating in Open Skies talks now underway with the European Union. Participation in both sets of talks are providing to be extremely valuable but these roles each have been “one-time” arrangements.
Airports compete with each other and other airlines of the world for new air service opportunities, from both Canadian and foreign carriers. Airports, and the communities they serve, have an important stake in the outcomes of the international agreements Canada negotiates with other nations. Full observer status at air talks for the CAC and Canadian airports is essential to ensuring community values and needs are reflected.
Background
As Canada’s international airports were all operated by the federal government prior to 1992, airports were part of a national network and governed by a national strategy. The nation’s airlines, which had competing outcomes in the stakes of such talks, participated as observers at the talks to ensure their views were represented.
Since the devolution of control to locally responsible airport authorities under the government’s National Airports Policy, Canada’s airports now have a mandate to improve air service options for the communities they serve. They must compete with each other and with other airports around the world for air service. This service may come from Canadian air carriers, but also from foreign airlines.
In the United States, where airports traditionally have been operated by municipal authorities, the competition for air service among airports has more history and airports have been represented at U.S. air talks with foreign nations since 1983. Airports Council International-North America, the CAC’s counterpart in Washington, participates regularly, as do individual airports with a particular interest in the outcome.
