High cost of landing

With its latest increase in fees, Pearson International Airport has won the unenviable distinction of being the priciest airport in the world in terms of airline landing charges.

Faced with a $6 billion debt resulting from building a new Terminal 1 and a federal government that continues to milk it relentlessly as a cash cow, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority has raised landing fees for the eighth year in a row.

Landing fees have risen almost 300 per cent since 1998. The authority attributes almost 60 per cent of the increases announced yesterday to the rent it pays to Ottawa. These increases come at a time when rising fuel costs are already pounding the beleaguered airline industry. Having the highest fees on the planet may cause some airlines to shift flights from Pearson. But it is consumers who will inevitably pay as airlines pass on the cost through higher ticket prices. The root of the problem is Ottawa’s refusal to lower its rent formula.

Transport Minister Jean Lapierre announced a revised rent formula earlier this year that he said would save Pearson $5 billion over the next 50 years, most of it in the later years of the arrangement.

Still, Pearson, which handles 33 per cent of all airport traffic in Canada, will be paying 63 per cent of federal airport rent revenue by 2010. While airports in Montreal and Vancouver will see decreases ranging from 21 to 62 per cent by 2010, Pearson’s will decrease by only 6 per cent.

Lapierre added insult to injury in October when he insisted that Pearson was being treated well and suggested Montreal’s airport would happily take some of its business.

Lapierre meets today with members of the Liberal GTA caucus. The MPs should deliver a stern, united message to the minister that the rent deal must be substantially revised.