Av-Security Funds Going Towards Rail, Marine Safety

"Skyway robbery." That's what the CEO of the International Air Transport Association calls the high rent fees and security charges that airlines and passengers alike pay at Canadian airports.

In his speech to attendees at a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon this week, IATA's Giovanni Bisignani noted the Canadian government collected $1.2 billion in security fees between 2002 and 2005.

Of those charges, only $800 million has gone toward airport security, Bisignani asserts. Some of the remaining money has gone towards funding security efforts for marine and rail travel, as well as for public transportation -- an example of subsidizing he believes is unfair.

"I will be polite and characterize this skyway robbery as very unfair to the passengers," Bisignani said, according to CBC News.

The IATA chief also states that according to the Canadian Airports Council, the government will receive an additional $290 million in airport rent taxes in 2007. Those fees -- which are passed along to airlines, in the form of higher landing fees, which are then passed down to passengers -- are among the highest such charges in the world.

Only Peru and Ecuador levy similarly high fees, Bisignani said.

The airports also have reason to complain where their money is going. The Greater Toronto Airport Authority said it paid $151.8 million in rent to the Canadian government in 2006 -- but none of those funds was reinvested in the airport.

Not surprisingly, the GTAA is asking the government to ease up on its charges.

FMI: www.gtaa.com/en/home/