Threat to air-traffic control not on Garneau's radar screen
Oblivious and cavalier, Transport Minister Marc Garneau's response to Windsor's alarm that the city's airport could lose air-traffic control service was the modern equivalent of, “Let them eat cake.”
Not my decision, he told the Windsor Star's Trevor Wilhelm in an interview last week. The impact on the economy? Not my responsibility, he said. If air-traffic control is withdrawn? Oh well. It can always be reinstated later.
He says he's read and heard the concern. It doesn't sound like he's heard a single thing.
First, this is his decision.
Nav Canada, the private owner and operator of the country's civil air navigation service that is reviewing the need for air-traffic control at six airports, including Windsor's, is part of Transport Canada's portfolio. Transport Canada must review Nav Canada's recommendations.
Transport Canada regulates safety, Garneau acknowledged. So let's look at safety.
It “gets kind of crazy up there sometimes,” corporate pilot Dante Albano told a news conference on the issue earlier this month.
We're an international airport bordering a major international air space. Detroit Metro Airport is only 30 kilometres away. Detroit's city airport is only 10 kilometres away. This isn't some sleepy hinterland. This isn't a knock against Prince George or Whitehorse. But what is Windsor doing on a list of airports to be reviewed that includes Prince George, population 74,000, in northern B.C., and Whitehorse, population 25,000, in the Yukon?
Garneau said the economy here is “not within my responsibility.”
But the Windsor Port Authority — a federal Crown entity that is also part of Transport Canada's portfolio — warned of “serious and irreparable consequences” if air-traffic control is withdrawn. It's part of the planned multimodal cargo transportation hub to be completed in conjunction with another federal government project, the new bridge. We'll have truck, rail, marine and air — unless air-traffic control is withdrawn and planes don't fly here anymore.
It was the federal government that invested $19.9 million in a planned new cargo hub and the Institute of Border Logistics and Security at Windsor's airport in 2013.
It was also the federal government that announced a new Foreign Trade Zone in Windsor and Essex County in 2017. Citing our location on the border, Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains called the region “a hub of economic activity” and noted that “all major forms of transportation service exist within this region.”
Now, the same government is potentially writing us off, saying, nah, nothing much here.
The review was prompted by the “persisting reduction” in air traffic in Canada, Nav Canada spokesman Brian Boudreau told the Star's Brian Cross. Nav Canada is looking for ways to “align our services and operations with air-traffic levels now and in the future.”
What reduction?
More than 383,000 passengers passed through Windsor International Airport last year, the most ever. Airport traffic jumped 300 per cent between 2009 and 2019, 25 per cent in the last three years.
This airport was a perennial money loser, losing $60,000 a month. Now it generates $1 million a year for the city.
So what reduction?
Was he referring to the sharp decline in air traffic during the pandemic, which has grounded a lot of travel? Is this an optimal time to make a decision like this? Would it make sense to wait until the pandemic is over, when travel resumes?
Don't worry, Garneau said.
If air-traffic control is cut, it will take a major campaign, requiring another study, to get it back.
Nav Canada can always reinstate air-traffic control here later.
“Nav Canada can certainly decide to reassess,” he said. “Any decisions that are made during this pandemic can be changed based on circumstances later on.”
How often does a service that is cut get reinstated? Not often. If air-traffic control is cut, it will take a major campaign, requiring another study, to get it back. And it won't happen soon.
This decision will have consequences, Mr. Garneau.