Message from the President and
Chief Executive Officer

Going into the third calendar year of the pandemic, it will come as no surprise that the Ottawa International Airport continues to suffer from its devastating effects. Key among them are passenger numbers and finances. As these indicators do not tell the entire story of YOW in 2021, I would like to share some other important highlights.

As expected, our domestic service was the first segment to begin recovering. Summer travel was busy with over 200 percent growth over 2020. Later in the year, transborder and international volumes started taking off as residents from the region satisfied their long pent-up travel wishes and headed to sunshine destinations in Florida and the Caribbean. While the Omicron variant put a damper on travel mid-December, we finished the year with 1,170,789 passengers and 984,707 departing seats respectively. Contrast these figures with 2019’s 5.1 million passengers and 3.4 million departing seats, and you can see we still have a long way to go.

Cargo operations continued to grow, with 30,272 metric tonnes moving through YOW, representing a 1.6% increase over 2020 figures. The breakdown of 37% inbound vs 63% outbound reflects the importance of the movement of goods to Canada’s North.

Achieving financial sustainability has been a priority since the pandemic started. The team did a fantastic job of cutting costs and maintaining an essential spending-only mindset to preserve funds. To help weather the pandemic more comfortably, we completed the issuance of $100 million in Series F Revenue Bonds in May. This financing effort was integral to the Authority’s financial sustainability strategy to ensure a strong balance sheet throughout the pandemic. We will use proceeds from the financing to repay $35 million in pandemic-related bank indebtedness, meet ongoing debt service commitments, and ensure a strong cash balance throughout the recovery phase of the pandemic.

All tolled, Airport revenues in 2021 were $56.6 million, which was 16.6% higher than 2020. With the exception of land and space rentals, the significant decrease in passenger volumes noted above negatively affected all revenue areas. The Authority finished 2021 by generating a loss before depreciation of $5.4 million compared to a loss of $19.5 million in 2020. A net loss of $36.7 million after depreciation in 2021 compares to a loss of $51.2 million in 2020.

The Chair mentioned his gratitude for the federal government’s financial support and I want to add my thanks as well. As critical infrastructure, the Airport must remain open and operational in support of many government and medical air operations. This requirement comes at a steep cost. In the absence of meaningful aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues, the Authority has been bleeding money since April 2020. Their Airport Relief Fund followed a formula applied to all airports and ultimately provided YOW with $5.7 million towards our operating costs for 2021.

We submitted two projects to the Airport Critical Infrastructure Fund for consideration – the LRT Airport Terminal Station (ATS) and the Taxiways A, M, AA, BB, CC Pavement Rehabilitation Program (Taxiway project). Transport Canada approved the ATS project for 50% of the eligible costs incurred and paid after June 15, 2021, up to $6.4 million of the total project cost of $17 million. Funding for the Taxiway project was confirmed in December for a maximum of 50% of the total eligible expenditures, up to $3.9 million. The Taxiway project, which is vital to maintain YOW’s high airside safety standard, will move forward in summer 2022. All of the funding support we received will allow the Authority to pursue other opportunities for commercial and airfield development, which are critical for YOW’s recovery.

The work of the Business Development and Marketing team feeds the Authority’s finances. Despite the lack of flights and passengers, they remained hard at work building and rebuilding air service, as the case may be. We found some silver linings among the COVID clouds.

Steadfast carriers Air Canada and WestJet maintained domestic service, which grew through the year to meet demand, and Canadian North kept Ottawa-Gatineau’s vital connection with Canada’s eastern Arctic, via Iqaluit.

Ottawa-Gatineau entered the ultra-low-cost arena in June when Edmonton’s Flair Airlines commenced service. By the end of the year, Flair served ten destinations, including eastern and western Canada. They were the first carrier to fly to the U.S. since early 2020 with service to Fort Lauderdale, after which they added Orlando-Sanford and Cancún.

Newfoundland-based PAL Airlines also launched YOW service in July with flights to Fredericton and Moncton on their Q-400 aircraft.

Porter Airlines restarted service on September 8 after a 19-month break, with an inaugural flight between Toronto City Billy Bishop Airport and YOW. They have continued to restore destinations and frequencies across their network since.

Our first U.S. carrier to resume was United Airlines on October 31 with their YOW-Washington Dulles service. Air Canada also returned Fort Lauderdale and Tampa service to their schedule in December.

In November, Sunwing, Air Transat and WestJet resumed seasonal service to popular sun destinations in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Mexico.

In March 2020, the federal government restricted international landing rights to only four Canadian airports (Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver). Understanding that restoring these landing rights was key to YOW’s recovery and that of the other three airports that were similarly without international flights (Halifax, Winnipeg and Edmonton), we invited them to work with us to encourage Transport Canada to reverse their decision. We also engaged our respective mayors to add their voices to the call for restored service in the interest of economic development. We were pleased that Transport Canada lifted the restrictions in August, paving the way for the above-noted air service returns.

Passengers need amenities – they want to pick up the necessities they forgot to pack or souvenirs for friends and family. They also want to relax and enjoy a beverage or a meal before their flight. Our grand plans to revitalize our concession plans were put on hold in 2020. I’m pleased to say that some work has resumed and that we made some terrific headway on the new centre court area that was made possible with the move of the Canada/International security screening operation to Level 3 last year.

On August 19, Paradies Lagardère, our retail Master Concessionaire, opened The Locks and Maison de la Presse, their new retail program’s first two flagship stores. Both outlets are located at the bottom of the escalator, which brings you from the screening area on Level 3 to the new centre court in the Level 2 gate area. Sales are strong despite relatively low passenger numbers. Additional new stores will open in proportion to the return of passenger volumes over the next one to two years, as per our amended concession lease agreement.

SSP Canada, our food and beverage Master Concessionaire, maintains their intent to restart the final design and construction of Canal Market Hall, the first of their new locations, by fall or early winter 2022. As with the master retail program, the entire lineup of planned new restaurant locations will be constructed over the next one to two years according to the return of passenger traffic volumes. Our two duty free stores, which are managed under a different contract, paced their operations with international and transborder departure schedules.

Before the pandemic, the Authority put the pieces in place to extract aggregate from the Airport’s southern lands. Cavanagh Construction, the successful proponent in a competitive tender process, received the required licenses and commenced site preparation last spring. They began the extraction operation in the summer. In all, more than 55,000 tonnes of sand aggregate were sold in 2021, representing a new revenue stream for the Authority.

Another critical revenue stream is Airport parking. In 2020, the Customer Transportation and Parking Services team initiated a project to update the parking revenue control system that had been in place since 2002 and was proving problematic. The new system, provided by Designa, was installed in the summer and went live on October 1. Despite challenges associated with the pandemic, including travel for Designa personnel who were required on-site for technical support, we enjoyed a cutover that was seamless for the public and employees alike.

In early September, we introduced an aggressive parking incentive for YOW promoting daily parking for only $1 for online bookings for a maximum of two weeks. The objective of the incentive was to encourage passengers from the region to include YOW in their travel plans rather than driving to Montreal or Toronto to catch flights. The campaign was highly successful, with 12,575 bookings. The campaign was an important means of demonstrating to our air carriers and stakeholders that we are doing our part to help the industry recover.

The Chair’s positive impression of the LRT station is well placed; it’s an impressive structure that is changing the Airport’s landscape. Once completed, the 730 m², three-story elevated structure on Level 3 will connect the terminal to the City’s station platform, elevated guideway and Airport Link. Work on the ATS started in April 2021 and progressed as scheduled and on budget throughout the year with anticipated completion in April 2022.

Necessary airside projects were also carried out, including replacing parts of Runway 07/25’s stormwater line. The runway closed on September 27 and displaced all air traffic to Runway 14/32. Thanks to the diligent work of the project team and contractor, the work was completed and the runway reopened on October 21 – 10 days earlier than initially scheduled.

The Security and Emergency Management team took advantage of a quieter terminal to improve our emergency response capability. Activities included an update to the Airport Emergency Plan (AEP), implementation of the Incident Command System and comprehensive rollout of a new Emergency Coordination Centre (ECC) control group. Sub elements to these three initiatives also required redesign and update, including the Airport staging plan for emergency resource dispatch and the Airport communications plan to support our internal and external stakeholders.

To test the newly implemented plans and systems, the Authority hosted Exercise Jump Start on December 7. The exercise involved an aircraft incident on the airfield and brought several Authority teams, including the Airport Fire Service and Airport Operations Control Centre, together with agencies such as the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) – Airport Section, Ottawa Fire Service, Ottawa Paramedic Services, and NAV CANADA. The exercise tested and evaluated several facets of the AEP, including incident notification, activation of the ECC, police, fire and paramedic response, resource management, communications and the ability to return to normal operations quickly. The exercise is a federal regulatory requirement and an excellent opportunity to learn and improve our readiness.

Drone detection and mitigation continues to be a priority for the Authority. To that end, the Authority, in conjunction with Defence Research and Development Canada, Transport Canada, NAV CANADA, RCMP, OPS and several private partners, conducted a series of exercises aimed at testing YOW’s readiness to respond to drone incursion incidents. These trials involved QinetiQ’s Obsidian Micro Doppler Radar technology, Indro Robotics Aeroscope Detection system and Accipiter Radar’s fusion software, all of which is deployed at YOW in a technical trial. Trials and testing have provided accurate situational awareness and timely analytics, allowing YOW and OPS to locate and respond to the threats as they were identified.

Completion of these and many more projects are thanks to the hard work of the incredible Authority team. The past two years have not been easy. Much of our team has had to remain working on-site under very different conditions than they were accustomed to, maintaining distance from co-workers, wearing masks, and having fewer resources upon which to rely. About 30% of our employees had to transition to remote work. Neither arrangement is perfect, albeit with different challenges.

We have endeavoured to keep everyone connected and safe through several initiatives. The Communications team brought employees together through interactive blog campaigns such as “Look what I made,” where employees could share the creative outlets that have helped them through the pandemic. Another campaign featured a virtual lunch and learn series, where various departments had the opportunity to share what they are responsible for, the challenges they face and their fun stories. The most popular event of the year marked Remembrance Day and featured the father of one of our teammates who served as a Lancaster Bomber Pilot in WWII. He told stories of joining the military, and his experience in Europe, including his brave participation in one of the most historical moments in history – D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. It was a moving presentation that will likely give November 11 even more meaning to those who participated.

We understand that the post-pandemic workplace will look very different from how we worked before COVID struck. The Authority released a Remote Work Policy to ensure that we keep all employees’ needs in mind once we return to a more typical scenario and maintain a positive culture. The Policy considers various factors that allow for a hybrid model for remote and on-site work arrangements for those whose roles permit them to work off-site.

The Authority implemented a COVID-19 Prevention Policy in consultation with both unions and the Workplace Health and Safety Committee early in 2021. The program intends to ensure the health and safety of all employees, whether working remotely or on-site, by offering a comprehensive and proactive program that includes fulsome and up-to-date information regarding the virus and the public health guidelines aimed at reducing spread. In September, we updated the Policy to reflect the mandatory requirement for vaccination. As of mid-October, 100% of our employees presented evidence of receiving both doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccine.

The Human Resources team was also busy choosing a new Human Resources Information System (HRIS) through a competitive process that began in 2020. A group of employees led by HR have been working on implementing the new system from successful proponent Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG). The project includes analysis, configuration, testing, training and reporting. The UKG solution replaces two legacy systems used to manage payroll, and time and attendance. The scalable solution will be implemented in several phases, the first of which went live on January 4, 2022.

Whether explicitly mentioned concerning a highlighted project or not, I want to thank every Authority employee for their patience, understanding, dedication, and hard work. You have all done an excellent job of keeping the Airport moving forward throughout the pandemic. Above all, I want to thank them for rolling up their sleeves to get vaccinated in the interest of keeping themselves and everyone around them as safe as possible. These really are extraordinary times, and I can say without reservation that we have an extraordinary team that I look forward to seeing in person as soon as possible.

Our Board of Directors has also been working differently throughout the pandemic. We’re all tired of virtual meetings, but they have served us well for not only regular committee and board meetings but for special meetings where items required a timely and efficient discussion. I look forward to being back around the boardroom table with everyone, but in the meantime want to express my appreciation for the support we continue to receive from the Chair and every member. Your engagement and attention have and continue to be vital to our success.

I also extend my thanks to our selecting bodies, business partners, and the greater community. Your support and patience as we build back are appreciated. I would ask that you continue to support our recovery by including YOW in your travel plans. Every ticket that includes YOW is a data point that will demonstrate to the airlines we have a market that needs serving and will ultimately help us accelerate recovery for our community. We will continue to keep the Airport safe for all and will be ready to welcome you when you’re ready to fly.