THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay International Airport Authority will raise landing fees next year, but is freezing a broad range of other aeronautical fees.
Officials say they are doing their best to hold the line on charges in order to help the airport take advantage of an anticipated rebound for the airline industry when the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
Airport passenger volume in the first three quarters of the year is down 60 per cent from the same period in 2019.
That's not a true reflection of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic since mid-March.
Traffic plummetted as soon as the pandemic was declared, after a strong start to the year when leisure travel was increasing and Thunder Bay hosted some major events that brought people to the city.
Airport CEO Ed Schmidtke says the airport authority has developed a fee strategy it believes will aid in the eventual recovery.
As of Jan. 1, 2021, airlines will be charged an additional 4.0 per cent for landing fees.
However, there will be no change in general terminal fees, aircraft parking fees and loading bridge/ground boarding fees.
"We're holding the line on the use of the terminal building. We're holding the line on the use of the bridges and some of our other, call it pay-per-use a la carte schedules, and we're doing that very specifically on the fees that get added to air passenger service," Schmidtke told Tbnewswatch.
"So we have one fee increase that's a little above inflation. That's part of a strategy to keep the cost of passenger service low upon the return of demand for that service."
Schmidtke said that once the pandemic is under control, demand for air travel will rise.
"We want to leave our pricing as low as possible to ensure the airport and the community benefit from servicing that pent-up demand."
The airport has already been impacted by the pandemic's second wave.
Schmidtke said that what little growth in passenger demand it was seeing in recent months has now disappeared.
The airport authority has approved modest increases in the daily maximum charges for long-term parking (from $14.25 to $14.75) and short term/premium parking (from $31 to $32) effective Jan. 1, 2021.
In a public notice, the authority is also reminding drivers that the first 15 minutes in short-term parking is still free.
"At $1.12 or $1.15 a litre for gas, we wanted to remind people that instead of idling in the cellphone lane when it's freezing outside, come to the terminal building, and if you time it well, you are in and out for free," Schmidtke said. "If you're a little late, it's still only 50 cents, which is probably less than the cost of idling."
Thunder Bay remains one of only two airports in the country that don't charge passengers an airport improvement fee.
