Edmonton AIF to increase to $30 next year!
 

Another grab for the wallet. The justifications seem pretty slim. Effective for flights on or after July 1, 2014.

http://corporate.flyeia.com/news/air...ent-fee-rise-5

With airlines pulling out left, right and centre, they need to replace the landing fees with something! :D

Kidding, kidding...

It does align them with Calgary's and Québec City AIF... http://www.westjet.com/pdf/travel/ba...res/aif_en.pdf

There are a lot of things about YEG that need improving... More flights is one :P

There is nothing left to improve at the airport. It's all been done. Interest costs are at record lows. There should be no reason to raise this at all.

More profit and bigger bonus for employees is the reason :D

The AIF cannot be used for operational reasons. One of the reasons for the increase could be the do not have enough cash foretasted in the future to meet their debt repayment requirements, or the various covenants that the debt rating agencies look at in assigning their ratings. As result pressure from their lender the Alberta Capital Finance Authority and the rating agencies to increase their AIF.

This was probably decided a while ago and only announced now. If you look at their 2012 annual report they provide an outlook that shows aeronautical revenue (in thousands), including net AIF as 2013 - 111,348, 2014 - 117,514 and 2015 138,257. There is a bit of a bump in 2014, but then a significant bump in 2015. I really can't see that large a bump coming from increased aircraft activity, the only other reason is a planned AIF increase.

The report also shows forecasted losses of $20 million in 2013 and $15 million in 2014.

Now they are doing some significant retail/industrial development at YEG, and also at ZVL (Villeneuve), however, AIF should not be used for those activities since it is not related to YEG airport operations.

Also interesting is the CEO is retiring, not sure if that would be the last thing I would do as a retiring airport CEO! Also of interest his pay was over $1 million in 2012, and I believe is one of the highest paid airport CEOs in the country.

Ugh it just never ends with these things.

The 2012 Annual Report for EIA
 

Interesting observations. What struck me reading the 2012 AR was the amount of $$ they spent on artwork, philantrophy, etc. In 2011, they had operating profits of $15 million, or $2.30 per revenue passenger.

There is no justification for a + 20 % increase in the AIF. I wrote to the federal Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt urging her to rescind this. I invite others to do likewise.

Must be to cover the lost revenues with AC not flying to LHR over the winter

Another article

So a couple of questions. If YEG did such a good job completing the expansion under budget, why the need to increase the AIF? Or asked another way, imagine what the AIF would be if the expansion came in on or over budget? For context, the authority has indicated it came in 25% under budget.

Also this article mentions the increase is for future projects, including a 3rd runway. Other articles talk about projects to 2020. So does that mean they are going to start the 3rd runway soon?

Final question. If this is for future projects, implied in this is they will be banking the AIF cash until needed. If so we should see a reserve fund in future financial statements. This is contrary to past use of AIF by most other airports, where money is borrowed, with AIF used for debt service, for major projects anyways. The only airport that I can think of that banked any significant AIF in the past was YVR.

They might not get that with this reducing demand due to higher PAX cost.
I feel sorry for you with no reasonable alternatives (other than alternate transportation or not going.)
Competition with neighboring airports is one reason why HK/Singapore/UAE fees are lower.

In Canada, the airlines have a strong voice when it comes to the rate and the use of AIFs. It is very likely that they supported the new YEG fees.

BTW: Airlines get to keep a certain percentage of the AIF directly for themselves, but they also have costs with collecting the AIF.

The airlines also have a big say on how the money collected for AIF is used. The airlines have to approve how it is used, if they don't there is another mechanism the airports can use to move ahead but it takes more time.

It is a percentage of collected AIF for the airlines cost of collecting AIF on behalf of the airports. The percentage decreases the more passengers at the airport

Ugh EIA...

Doesn't bother me in the slightest as the EIA is a great airport now.

The only eyesore is the shed to accomodate the Dash8s. If I had my way there would be a shed surcharge of $50 for all flights south of YEG on those planes.

I would prefer a terrible airport that is cheap to use than a good airport that is expensive to use.
(i.e. if YVR was like CDG but had $5 airport tax + GST and no federal tax other than GST, it would be just fine by me.)
On the other hand, some of the best airports in the world are cheap to use (DXB, less than $20 total, HKG with HK$120 airport tax, SIN with S$28 airport tax, many Japanese airports...)

You don't need a high aif if you have a ton of traffic through your airport. Plus these airports have no competition and are known for their high landing fees

Actually, this is the argument YEG Airport Authority is using to increase the AIF, high traffic.

If you can't afford $30 you probably shouldn't be flying.

True, but it's still a minor annoyance that should be corrected (though, unfortunately, I don't think that a majority would agree and I don't live in the service area.)

SIN also has Seletar airport (though the fees are the same, and SMRT only serves Changi IIRC.)
HKG has Shenzhen/Macau (though this is only useful to HK/Macau/Chinese nationals and it's not fun to cross the border back over, plus fees in China are even higher. Macau doesn't have very many flights to it, either, though it is located close to Taipa.)
DXB has AUH as competition as they are a close distance (and the fees are again the same.) Some airports in Oman/Saudi can also be considered substitutes (though getting visas for Saudi in particular isn't very appealing.)
Japan I agree has very few alternatives in terms of airports (unless travelling wholly within Japan, with the exception of Okinawa.)

Not like $5 will make make much of a difference...but every time I fly up there I always complain about all of the taxes coming back. This will ensure I complain even more.:D

On a related note I just flew through a few weeks ago for the first time using the new cross border area. It's a huge upgrade over the small box they threw us in a few years ago! The Oilers/Oil Kings/Eskimos deco by the international baggage claim was quite a nice touch IMO

That's EXACTLY what EVERYONE should do if you want any chance at stopping the gouging (and/or use alternate transport.)
If the airport has to close down to learn from mistakes (bad location, high fees of use, nonexistent (and now very limited) public transport options,) then so be it.