Ottawa eyeing airport sales

The federal government is considering the possibility of selling Canada’s airports to private investors, a move which could generate billions of dollars in revenue, according to a new report.

The Toronto Star reported that Ottawa is eyeing the sale of major airports in the country, including Toronto Pearson, to private investors in a bid to generate funding for infrastructure projects. Currently, Canadian airports are operated by not-for-profit airport authorities; during the mid-1990s, management of 26 major airports were transferred to authorities.

The consideration stems from a review of Canada’s transportation sector submitted last December and led by former federal cabinet minister David Emerson, which acknowledged that although the airport authority model has worked thus far (citing $19 billion invested in airport authorities across Canada into aviation infrastructure), the model ‘puts cost competitiveness at risk.’

Two anonymous sources cited in the Star’s report state that a review of the matter (which includes other options such as maintaining the airport authority management model while transferring ownership of airport lands to private investors) could be completed as early as August.