Canada in ‘early stages’ of talks on whether to privatize airports: minister - BERITAJA

The national authorities is successful the “early stages” of talks connected whether Canada’s airports will beryllium privatized, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon told reporters connected Wednesday.

When asked if the authorities was considering privatizing airports and if so, really many, MacKinnon told reporters that the authorities was talking pinch airdrome authorities.

“We’re successful the early stages of a process pinch airdrome authorities and different partners to find the champion measurement forward. The eventual goal, of course, is to amended the rider experience, to amended the ratio of our aerial carrier system,” MacKinnon said.

The authorities is moving pinch NAV Canada and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority to finalize the plan, he said, though he did not opportunity whether this included handing complete airdrome onshore wholly to backstage players aliases plans to person public-private partnerships.

“Indeed, they are a nationalist bully and I don’t deliberation that tone aliases that accuracy will change,” he said.

When asked if money from finance successful Canada’s airports will beryllium funneled into Canada’s caller sovereign wealthiness fund, MacKinnon said, “I don’t deliberation that immoderate determination has been made connected that front.”

The national authorities is considering inviting backstage finance into Canada’s airports, according to the Spring Economic Update.

The national authorities says it is moving to “unlock the afloat potential” of Canada’s airports by exploring “alternative models of ownership.”

“The authorities is besides assessing opportunities to unlock the afloat worth of airports successful support of investments successful Canada’s semipermanent growth, including done replacement models of ownership, the outpouring economical update says.

“This activity will beryllium precocious pinch the input of the airdrome authorities and different stakeholders including airlines and section governments,” the archive says.

This is not the first clip the Mark Carney authorities has hinted astatine privatizing Canada’s airports. In the national fund presented successful November 2025, the national authorities said it will “consider options for the privatization of airports.”

As of 2020, about 20 per cent of the airports successful the world had been privatized. A 2022 study successful the U.S.-based non-profit National Bureau of Economic Research compared the capacity of 2,444 airports about the world successful 217 countries.

The study recovered that the number of passengers per formation — a cardinal metric erstwhile assessing airdrome ratio — accrued by 20 per cent erstwhile backstage equity costs bargain government-owned airports and wide rider postulation rises by 84 per cent.

Airports besides get bigger pinch backstage equity costs arsenic owners, the study found, pinch backstage owners adding caller terminals and gates. The study besides recovered less formation cancellations.

However, flying whitethorn get much costly arsenic the fees that airports complaint to airlines rises aft an airdrome is privatized, the study found. The emergence successful the number of privately-owned airports was besides associated pinch a push for deregulation and pushback against authorities controls, specified arsenic caps aliases limits connected fees.

In the early 1990s, Canada chose to clasp nationalist ownership of airports but transferred operations of immoderate of the busiest airports successful the state to 21 privately owned airdrome authorities.

Canada presently has 23 airports that are leased to 21 backstage airdrome authorities by Transport Canada, pinch Mirabel International Airport and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport successful Montreal operated by the aforesaid authority.

The federal authorities collects up to 12 per cent of airdrome gross revenues successful the shape of rent, the Canadian Airports Council says. Between 1992 and 2019, airports person paid much than $6.5 cardinal successful “rent” to the national government, the assembly says.