2011 Ottawa International Airport
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2011
Ottawa International Airport Authority
Annual Public Meeting
May 8th, 2012
Hilton Garden Inn, Ottawa
Remarks by Paul Benoit
President & CEO
Administration de l’aéroport international d’Ottawa
Assemblée publique annuelle
le 8 mai 2012
Hilton Garden Inn, Ottawa
Allocution de Paul Benoit
Président et chef de la direction
PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYGood afternoon and thank you all for being here to review another great year for the airport and the Airport Authority. Bienvenue à tous. The news is again very positive. We broke another passenger traffic record with a total of 4,624,626 passengers for the year, which represents a 3.4% increase over 2010 figures. While our overseas flights to London and Frankfurt continue to do very well, Ottawa- Gatineau has a growing appetite for leisure travel and sunshine destinations, which is being recognized and addressed by our carriers. You might recall that in 2010, WestJet introduced direct service to Las Vegas, Nevada. The route was so successful that they started the season much earlier in the fall of 2011, and it continues to do very well. Sunwing and Air Transat also responded to the demand by adding new flights to the sun in Los Cabos, Mexico and La Romana in the Dominican Republic. These flights are in addition to already popular charter flights to sunshine destinations such as Florida, Jamaica, Cuba and Turks and Caicos. Growing passenger numbers mean that our financial picture in 2011 was also positive, with revenues of 103.1 million dollars, and expenses before depreciation of 75.2 million. After factoring in depreciation of 22.2 million, we reported net earnings of 5.7 million dollars. Continued positive financial results allowed the Authority to invest earnings in the airport’s operations.And invest we did. Nous avons entrepris un projet de réfection des pistes qui s’échelonnera sur plusieurs années en commençant par la piste 04/22 qui a été réalisé l’automne dernier. En 2012, ce sera au tour de la réfection de la piste 07/25 et l’an prochain de la piste 14/32. Sur ce plan, l’Administration entend se conformer aux normes les plus rigoureuses entre celles de l’Organisation de l'Aviation Civile Internationale et celles de Transports Canada. The first phase included resurfacing the runway and making several changes to the layout of the taxiways that will not only improve efficiency, they will help facilitate future President’s Remarks, Annual Public Meeting Ottawa International Airport Authority May 8, 2012 Page 2
development of the north-west corner of the airport campus. The positive financial results also facilitate our ability to carry out necessary lifecycle upgrades and replacements that are needed in the terminal after nearly 10 years of regular use, as Raymond mentioned. The AIF ensures that the Authority can continue to provide world class airport facilities, excellent customer service and accommodate the anticipated increases in passenger volumes and the resulting demand on facilities and infrastructure, well into the future. The AIF does not fund ongoing operational costs, but does fund major construction projects such as the recently completed Parkade expansion. The expansion, which has made 850 more parking spaces available to our clients in the Parkade, was finished on time and within the original budget of 35 million dollars. Si vous avez été récemment à l’aérogare, vous avez peut-être noté une nouveauté. Dans nos efforts pour rehausser constamment la sécurité, nous nous sommes dotés d’une unité canine en 2011. Grâce à cet investissement, Samson et Benny, nos partenaires canins, sont maintenant des habitués de l’aérogare et nous sommes fiers qu’ils nous prêtent main-forte. Au cours de l’année, nous avons mené à bien plusieurs autres projets, certains majeurs et d’autres de moindre envergure. Je vous invite à lire le Rapport annuel pour en prendre connaissance et je me contenterai de dire que l’année a été riche en réalisations. But let’s get back to the growing passenger numbers. When we opened the new terminal, we said that it would accommodate passenger traffic until 2020 – or five million passengers. This was a mere two years after world events caused a near catastrophic decline in the airline industry worldwide, and our projections were reasonable and prudent. As we quickly learned, Ottawa suffered an impact, but it was not nearly as severe as some cities in North America experienced. Recalibrated projections just five years ago indicated that we would hit the five million passenger milestone in 2016. Once again, we fared better than most airports in spite of a recession and declining passenger President’s Remarks, Annual Public Meeting Ottawa International Airport Authority May 8, 2012 Page 3
numbers across the industry, and we now find ourselves closing in on the milestone much more quickly. What does this kind of growth mean for the airport? It means that we need to be planning now in order to be ready to handle the increased numbers of the future, but also to accommodate changing client needs and demographics. We have undertaken several studies, including one focused on our current ground transportation and vehicle curb system, and whether we can reconfigure it to provide better access and performance. We are also looking at both airside and terminal capacity to determine how best to address the growing needs in coming years. The needs include transit, parking, passenger and baggage processing, and security to name just a few areas of interest. The studies are all preliminary, but the ground work is being done so that every option will be carefully considered and only the best ones will be implemented in the future. Much has changed since we took over responsibility for the airport in 1997. At that time, the annual economic impact of the operation was calculated to be in the neighborhood of 240 million dollars per year. The latest study we commissioned in 2010 pegged the number at an astounding 2.2 billion dollars. It includes nearly 5 thousand direct jobs and some 53 hundred more that are indirect. Approximately 150 companies operate at the airport. It includes more than 247 million dollars paid in taxes to various levels of government. At the time of transfer, the airport net book value was $75M, since then, we paid 132M in rent and invested $550M – all without any government’s assistance. There is no doubt that we have grown in every way. Au fil des années, nous avons mis sur pied des partenariats exemplaires avec les lignes aériennes qui desservent Ottawa, avec les entrepreneurs et les fournisseurs dont nous President’s Remarks, Annual Public Meeting Ottawa International Airport Authority May 8, 2012 Page 4
dépendons, avec les regroupements de gens d’affaires et les agences de tourisme et avec les gens de cette région qui continuent à soutenir nos efforts. À ce jour, le programme de don à la communauté, Projet ensoleillement, a investi plus de 900 000 dollars dans divers projets qui vont du financement d’un chien-guide pour la vie, à l’achat de lits pour des personnes en fin de vie à l’intention de plusieurs hospices, au remplacement d’appareils ménagers industriels dans une soupe populaire et même la construction d’un parc de planches à roulettes pour les adolescents. En 2011, les quelque 100 000 dollars investis dans la collectivité ont servi entre autres à financer les rénovations d’une cuisine communautaire, à l’achat d’équipement thérapeutique et à la mise à niveau d’un système de chauffage, ventilation et conditionnement d'air. I would also say that the Ottawa Airport is a pretty amazing place. Today, for me, this is a bittersweet meeting. I have announced my impending retirement and will be leaving early in 2013, and today, this will be my final Annual Public Meeting. Like Raymond, I will take enough memories to last a lifetime, and have made many friends. I include among them members of my Board of Directors, past and present. Thank you for trusting me with this important community treasure, and for supporting all of the decisions and actions over the years that have brought us to this point. I would like to say a special thank you to my management team for their years of hard work and support. We have watched the industry change, we have seen crises come and go, but we managed through all of it together. As for the Authority employees, there are no words to adequately express the admiration and appreciation I have for you. Many of you took a leap of faith when you left Transport Canada and joined the Authority team, and you set a standard of excellence in airport management and operations that is envied across the country. You are the best there is, and I am so proud to have been on your team. President’s Remarks, Annual Public Meeting Ottawa International Airport Authority May 8, 2012 Page 5
To the community, I say thank you for your vote of confidence. Our growth and success are due to your support. I could go on and on, but will stop here with a final thank you and a wish to all of you for continued success. Merci. President’s Remarks, Annual Public Meeting Ottawa International Airport Authority May 8, 2012 Page 6
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