Locals bear brunt of YVR fee hike.
by Bill Tieleman
There's nothing like an airport for bringing you down to earth.
– Author Richard Gordon, Doctor In The Swim
Vancouver International Airport’s controversial Airport Improvement Fee jumps by 33 percent Tuesday — but only British Columbians will be paying it, while international travelers will get all the benefits without spending an extra penny.
YVR says it needs to increase the fee $5 per passenger to $20 for flights leaving BC to pay for $1.8 billion worth of improvements — most to reduce connection times for travelers passing through the airport — including high-speed baggage systems and moving walkways.
Those international passengers will be the big winners as they zoom through YVR to and from primarily Asian destinations — and are completely exempt from the levy.
People who actually live here will pay the freight through the higher AIF for another decade, despite the fact it was supposed to end in 2002.
But people who actually live here will pay the freight through the higher AIF for another decade, despite the fact it was supposed to end in 2002.
And you have absolutely no say in the matter. YVR answers to no government or voters.
Bruce Cranm, president of the Consumers Association of Canada, says YVR is “out of control” with the latest AIF increase.
“It’s absolutely outrageous we’re being charged another $5 tax to subsidize connecting passengers,” Cran told this reporter. “I don’t think YVR serves the public of British Columbia well.”
But if you feel ripped off, join my Facebook.com protest page, titled No Way YVR.
And if you can, attend YVR’s annual public meeting May 10 at 3:30 pm It’s being held in the east concourse, departures level of the international terminal — conveniently timed to exclude as many members of the public as possible!
YVR’s higher AIF is partly why Seattle’s airport had a record 32.8 million travelers in 2011 — almost double Vancouver’s 17 million — and why Bellingham airport is undergoing a $30-million expansion.
The Canadian Airports Council estimates the country loses nearly five million passengers annually to US border airports.
Vancouver could learn a lesson from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, Europe’s fifth biggest, which introduced a ticket tax of between $14 and $58 per trip in 2008.
Schiphol soon repealed the tax after it lost 9 percent of all passengers and was forced cut its work force by 10 to 25 percent.
Will this be the last Airport Improvement Fee increase at YVR? When pigs fly.
About Bill Tieleman
Bill Tieleman, president of West Star Communications, is one of BC's best known political commentators and communicators. Read political commentary from Bill every Tuesday in 24 hours, Vancouver's free weekday newspaper (also online) and in The Tyee — BC's award-winning online magazine.
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