The decision by the Chretien Government in the 1990s to transfer the operation of Canada’s national airport system to local airport authorities was likely one of the most important legacy decisions of that government.
All the NAS airports have since been modernized through an investment of more than $30 billion by the combined airport authorities across the country. The Halifax International Airport has been transformed and doubled in size since transfer through an investment of $750 million by HIAA.
Don Mills’ conversation with Nova Scotia-born Monette Pasher, the CEO of the Canada Airports Council, which represent over 100 airports in Canada, including all 26 NAS airports, takes a look at the economic importance of the sector, the impact of the pandemic on the industry, where airports are in term of their recovery from the pandemic and some of the opportunities to improve the travel experience for passengers including the use of technologies like facial recognition.
The two also talk about what it will take to re-introduce the inter-provincial air service within Atlantic Canada that was a causality of the pandemic.
