Globe and Mail notes on Prince Rupert airport, gain response from YPR manager Michael Pucci

The Main entrance to the Digby Island Airport

Last week we highlighted some of the themes from a recent Globe and Mail article on aviation in Canada/

 

The National newspaper exploring a range of items of note on air travel,  from the level of fees charged to travellers, to what circumstances the airline executives explore when making a decision on which markets to serve.

Our article from last week can be reviewed here.

Towards gaining some local comment on the themes of the Globe and Mail story, as well on some background on aviation notes relevant to the Prince Rupert operations we contacted Michael Pucci, Manager of YPR ( Prince Rupert’s Airport ). 

We first offered up a forum for his thoughts on the Globe story of last week.

I have been asked by the North Coast Review to shed some light on the cost that the airport imposes on Airlines and respond to an article in the Globe and Mail recently that had Prince Rupert listed as the most expensive Airport to land at in Canada. 

Let me first say the Globe and Mail article grossly misrepresented YPR. 

Please allow me to digress a bit and start with what the article fails to consider; that Canada is the 3rd largest landmass country in the world, with a population that is approx. 3 million people less than the State of California. This situation puts our Federal Aviation at a disadvantage as Canadian airports will never have the volume passing through on a macro scale like US and European counterparts. 

Our situation is exaggerated by our population density being in 2 locations arguably 3… Vancouver, Southern Ontario / Montreal. Lets take a look at our home province of British Columbia; BC is the size of California, Oregon and Washington State combined and only has the population of about the City of Los Angeles. 

We ( Prince Rupertites and Canadians ) don’t have the population and have farther distances to go, but the planes cost the same to buy and maintain as they do in the US and Europe. This is arguably the #1 factor in setting price for Canadian air travel. 

One item of the Globe and Mail article that has raised some concern for YPR officials, was a chart which listed the most expensive airports for travellers in Canada owing to Airport improvement fees passed along to passengers who are travelling out of province.  

Mr. Pucci provided the following overview towards that element of the story.

The article lists Prince Rupert as the most expensive airport to land at; a cost of $46 dollars per passenger charged to the airlines, listed in the chart as an Airport Improvement fee. 

This statement is a significant misrepresentation and not correct. 

YPR, the Prince Rupert Airport charges the Airline a $24 runway usage fee based on how many passengers are on board, no airport improvement fee, no other charges for the airport. 

To compare, Terrace Airport charges several fees independently to combine to just under $25 and a portion of that # is listed as an airport improvement fee. 

It is not the Prince Rupert Airport $24 passenger fee which is affecting the price by hundreds of dollars difference compared to Terrace. 

Nanaimo charges $24 for an airport improvement fee plus a passenger and weight fee, Prince George charges $25 for an airport improvement fee plus charges for passengers and weight. 

As you can see the Prince Rupert Airport is not charging high fees that is dissuading Airlines from landing here. 

In a wider overview of the current affairs of aviation in the country the Prince Rupert Airport Manager turned his attention towards some national themes, and regional factors to be aware of

In doing research ... I found that within the same couple days that the WestJet CEO was making comments about Domestic Canadian Aviation his company announced significant expansion internationally using “Dreamliners” new mega planes to the WestJet fleet. 

My understanding is the cost to operate an international flight is less than short haul domestic travel per passenger, due to the rates an airline can charge for a flight with 1 crew with a plane that seats an awful lot more than general short haul planes and the efficiencies garnered from said planes. 

I don’t believe the cost of the fees from airports is a major factor for an airline when choosing to service a route, it is much more weighted to population ( including the Flown In Worker ) and distance from hub, and factors of running the aircraft specifically, we can see this by the number of flights to locations across Canada and in the Province. 

Rough estimates have the Terrace Kitimat Airport service area at a population of approx. 30,000 people ( Nass, Terrace, Kitimat, Thornhill, part way to Hazelton, plus fly in workers for LNG, and Hospital ) compared to ours in the mid teens. 

As the new manager ( since August of 2022 ) I have not yet had the opportunity to meet with Air Canada provincial leadership, when I do, I will be inquiring as to how they set pricing for Terrace vs Prince Rupert, as well as alterations that would provide value to the Prince Rupert traveler. 

Further I believe Air Canada’s BC fleet of Turbo Prop planes is less than it was 5 years ago, making adding more routes difficult without the sacrifice from another.

The North Coast Review also took advantage of Mr. Pucci's time to seek out an overview of Operations heading into the 2022 Holiday period, we'll share those notes of interest in a follow up article tomorrow.

For more notes on aviation, see our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.