Air-traffic control essential to hub plans: port authority
Alarmed by the potential loss of air-traffic control at Windsor International Airport, the Windsor Port Authority is warning federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau of “serious and irreparable consequences” for the region's long-term economic prosperity.
“It is counter to every investment and policy direction of your government that has invested so heavily in Canadians and our ability to compete,” says a Dec. 8 letter unanimously approved by the board of the port authority.
The port authority is a federal Crown entity that in recent years has been working with agencies and authorities on both sides of the border on the formation of the largest integrated multimodal cargo transportation hub in North America, expected to culminate with the completion of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
“The continuance of a controlled access airport is essential to that vision,” the letter says, explaining that without air-traffic control, planes carrying cargo would likely avoid using the Windsor airport.
And air cargo is a significant and critical component of a multimodal concept, port authority CEO Steve Salmons said Wednesday.
“It has to have marine, it has to have rail, it has to have truck and it has to have air, because air cargo is a massive business on this globe.”
If Windsor International Airport is relegated to some sort of second-tier airport with an automated air traffic system, it will have a “huge deleterious effect” on that vision, said Salmons.
“Because there are airlines that will not fly into uncontrolled air space.”
Also, Windsor's airport is in the midst of one of the most complicated and busy air spaces in North America, with Detroit Metro Airport 30 kilometres away and Detroit City just 10 km.
A big global logistics company will simply not use Windsor International Airport if it doesn't have a control tower, said Salmons.
“They're just simply going to opt out and that's a big, big concern for this port and for this region's potential as a multimodal logistics hub.”
The removal of air-traffic control is the worst-case possibility of a review recently launched by NAV Canada, the country's privatized civil air navigation service provider.
The terms of reference for the review were made public Friday, with tight timelines. Consultations are supposed to be done in December and January, with a finalized Aeronautical Study Report ready by March. It would then go to Transport Canada for review.
The reason NAV Canada gives for Windsor's review is its long-term air-traffic levels, though that appears contradicted by the airport's 300 per cent increase in passenger volumes from 2009 to 2019, and a 25 per cent increase between 2016 and 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, volumes plummeted in 2020 like every other airport in the world but are expected to bounce back.
The terms of reference for Windsor says “aircraft movements (a takeoff, landing or simulated approach by an aircraft) trended up in 2016 and 2017,” but levelled at 44,000 annual movements in 2018 and 2019. “These total annual aircraft movements fall below the established guidelines” for the provision of air-traffic control, the document says.
In an email, NAV Canada spokesman Brian Boudreau said: “Air-traffic control services are typically warranted where there are 60,000 movements annually.”
However, he added, this is a general guideline. Service levels are determined on a “case-by-case basis through an aeronautical study with a core focus on safety.”
Windsor Airport CEO Mark Galvin is in the midst of gathering data to show the exceptional circumstances that he said makes the case for Windsor retaining air-traffic control, which operates 16 hours a day.
“It's a pretty tight timeline, so we're doing the best we can to get the word out to people who are affected, that they have to speak up and explain to NAV Canada first and eventually Transport Canada how they're being affected.”
A letter from the port authority is great, he said, because it shows how vital air-traffic control is to the entire community. Essex County Council sent a similar letter Wednesday, and more voices of opposition are streaming in.
A petition organized by MP Brian Masse (NDP — Windsor West), which he intends to present to the minister in the coming weeks, had 1,035 signatures on Wednesday.
“The support for the petition has been incredible,” said Masse's constituency assistant, Farah El-hajj.
Mayor Drew Dilkens' chief of staff, Andrew Teliszewsky, said the port authority's strongly worded letter is particularly important because it's coming from a federal entity addressed to its federal minister. And it speaks to the integrated nature of cargo transportation logistics and economic development.
“It's kind of like a Jenga tower,” said Teliszewsky. “When you pull at this one block — the control tower at the airport — the fact the port authority is seeing this as a negative move by NAV Canada ... is really significant and, frankly, an eye-opener.”
While Garneau is responsible for ports, the Windsor Port Authority operates independently and its board has a responsibility to speak out on issues that affect it, said Salmons.
“This is consistent and normal course for us,” he said. “If there is a direction by an agency (like NAV Canada) that's going to affect us, we want to let our minister know how it's going to affect a port that is under his jurisdiction.”