Ep. 120 - Daniel Robert Gooch, President and CEO, Canadian Airports Council

“It’s more than just funding. The crisis has endured longer in Canada than in the U.S. because you’ve had fewer restrictions and less traffic suppression, generally, as a result.”

Canadian airports have faced more restrictions and gotten less help from the federal government throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic. Those factors have led to a slower recovery – they were at about 40% of 2019 traffic in August system-wide -- and forced them to take on large amounts of debt just to maintain operations. While some relief has started flowing through the Canadian aviation system, Gooch says airports are worried they’re at a competitive disadvantage to airports in other countries, like the U.S., where relief has been more generous.