International Trade committee  Halifax wouldn't have the Delta LaGuardia flight without U.S. pre-clearance, because LaGuardia doesn't have Homeland Security and CBP services. It's a domestic-only airport.

International Trade committee  Just on the EU agreements, if you look at the blue sky side of it, there are four phases to it. It needs to be ramped up. Let's get on with it and get it in place and be able to take full advantage of it. It's not something that I think we need to be as cautious as perhaps we're being in bringing it online.

International Trade committee  For cargo in general, in China and other countries there aren't a lot of restrictions. It's easier than on the passenger side, although you still have to apply and go through the CTA. We're okay in terms of going to China. The real issue with China for us right now is actually getting the lift.

International Trade committee  Nor am I, but the countries that we're targeting don't really pose.... I think it's more the visa perspective from Halifax; we keep looking at the Baltic countries, and I suspect as we pursue that there'll be visa issues.

International Trade committee  I'd echo the comments. Again, it's just security fees, subsidizing seaports off the backs of air travellers. In the U.S., grants to airports are used to attract airlines' new service. Bangor gets half a million dollars to get United to fly there.

International Trade committee  Some of the things that have been mentioned here just in the last comments would help for sure, in getting the costs to where they should be—the rents and security fees and whatnot. Progressing on the air transport agreements and air policy liberalization—or as we call it, open skies or blue skies—in this country is fundamental to giving communities, and not just the airports, because the airports are economic enablers for the communities in the regions, the freedom to grow and attract new business.

International Trade committee  Halifax is just below average in fees.

International Trade committee  I think we have 44 or 45 agreements in Canada now. We certainly haven't been as aggressive as some other countries, the U.S. in particular, and the blue sky is a hybrid of what the rest of the world calls open skies. Where Halifax is positioned geographically, we have aircraft overflying, getting into the jet stream and going to Europe on a regular basis off the eastern seaboard, and they have capacity.

International Trade committee  Thank you. Halifax averages 1.5% to 2% nominal growth. In 2006 U.S. pre-clearance opened at Halifax, the only airport in Atlantic Canada to have that. At that time, the business case projected 323,000 passengers within the first five years of operation and within the first 12 months we exceeded 343,000 passengers.

International Trade committee  Again, we're doing 3.6 million passengers, and for the physical building itself we're probably good to five million. But if we take advantage of some of the programs that have been mentioned, we will have to make some modifications to the building for traffic flow.

International Trade committee  At the risk of sounding like I'm doing a commercial, Halifax Stanfield has been a leader in customer service for a number of years, so security, specifically with CATSA lineups or a lineup at a parking garage trying to exit, is fundamental to our concerns. Whether they're in our care or control, we become involved.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Madame Chair, and members of the committee, for this opportunity. Joyce Carter, president and CEO of Halifax International Airport Authority, sends her regrets and asked that I appear on her behalf. The Halifax Stanfield International Airport is the largest passenger and cargo airport in Atlantic Canada, and the most eastern airport in Canada with a continental link to North America.

International Trade committee  I think there are two. One, quickly, would be building the markets in Europe and having the financial resources to do that in a unified way as a community of various stakeholders. The second would be to attract that capacity to actually move the product. The second one is probably less than the first, because if the demand is there to move the goods—as you know, airplanes are very mobile assets—they will move into the markets to do that.

International Trade committee  We do that. Quickly, we have a costing model we can show people who are moving goods how they'll save money by bringing it through Halifax instead of Logan and New York. There is also the fact that one of the really simple things here is that you're hitting land in North America sooner.

International Trade committee  I guess there are still a lot of unknowns at this point. We see the timing issue as being important, and the fact that we need government departments to align what they need to do to remove the barriers. If there's activity, the growth potential can be achieved.