Check against delivery
Good Morning, and welcome Minister Alghabra, Minister McKenna, members of the media and guests. It’s a pleasure to be here with you to celebrate this very welcome news.
As Minister Alghabra mentioned, the pandemic has been rather surreal. YOW went from a busy and growing airport that served more than 5 million passengers per year to a near-barren shell that serves fewer than 250,000 passengers at the moment. Unfortunately, while our revenues have been decimated, our expenses have not been equally reduced.
As critical infrastructure, the airport has remained open and operational in support of essential travel, medevac flight movements, and government and military operations. We have also followed public health guidelines to the letter for everyone’s health and safety.
These operations have come at a cost, and have unfortunately rendered many planned projects unaffordable.
The Airport Terminal Station is such a project. We fought hard to make an airport spur a reality in the City’s light rail transit plan. We put our financial support behind the project in the form of funding for the station. In order to proceed, we would have had to take on additional debt, which would result in higher fees to passengers and airlines in the future.
The Airport Critical Infrastructure Program funding announced by Minister Alghabra will help reduce the pandemic’s long-term impact.
As you can see behind me, the City has made tremendous progress on the track, and we completed significant enabling works to accommodate their work that aren’t as visible.
Because we did not want to negatively impact the City’s overall LRT schedule, it was important that we started the project before ACIP funding was announced. This announcement provides some certainty as we embark on the complex year-long project in earnest.
I would like to thank the Airport Authority team that has worked steadfastly to keep the project on track during periods of uncertainty and extreme austerity.
I would also like to express my thanks and appreciation to Minister Alghabra and Minister McKenna for their support, and the hard work of their respective staffs throughout this process.
Finally, I would like to extend sincere thanks to David McGuinty and Mayor Jim Watson for being airport champions since the beginning of the pandemic – well before the ACIP was announced. Their support acknowledged the extreme situation we were in thanks to the pandemic, and the importance of the airport in our community.
We are on the cusp of a meaningful recovery, which I hope will translate into more passengers, flights, and destinations – including transborder and international service – in the coming weeks and months. Most of all, I look forward to building back better for the good of our community.
Thank you.
Mark Laroche
President and CEO