Passenger fees going up at Regina airport to offset losses and pay for runway project

The cost for a flight out of Regina is going up $10 beginning April 1.

Passengers leaving Regina are charged what's called a Passenger Facility Fee, and that will rise to $30 from $20. This fee is attached to the ticket price for all departing passengers.

James Bogusz, the CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, said it is facing about $15 million in losses due to the pandemic and is about to start a multi-million dollar runway project.

"The realities of COVID-19, the over $15 million in losses that we've suffered, the runaway inflation rates and the significantly increased cost of borrowing, is all necessitating the change to the passenger facility fee," Bogusz said, adding the fee hasn't been increased since 2012.

"We needed this fee quite some time ago, but we were very strategic to ensure that we kept a pro business approach with airlines to keep the fees as low as we could, and this is why we waited until we're actually seeing a recovery."

The $27-million runway project, 50 per cent of which is to be funded with federal dollars, is expected to take two years to complete.

"In addition to paving the runway, we will also be increasing or enhancing the lighting system on the south side, improving drainage and upgrading the electrical system," Bogusz said.

Landing and general terminal fees charged to airlines will also be going up five per cent starting April 1.

Bogusz acknowledged Saskatchewan airline passengers have been hit with a lot of bad news lately — Sunwing cancelling almost its entire winter flight schedule from Regina and Air Canada cancelling Regina flights — but said better times are ahead.

"Passenger volumes in the month of December were 74 per cent of pre-pandemic December passenger volumes," Bogusz said.

He said WestJet is adding 5,000 more seats to the Regina market beginning at the end of February.

"In addition, Air Canada is adding more capacity now to our market to Vancouver and Toronto, and they're also going to be returning with [flights to] Montreal this summer," he said.

"I can assure the residents here in southern Saskatchewan that the airport's future flight options and even pricing is going to be better this year than we've seen since the pandemic started."

Saskatoon's airport charges outgoing passengers a maximum of $23 in airport improvement fees.

The Saskatoon Airport Authority said in an email to CBC that it expects to release its year-end details for 2022 in early February.

It said the Airport Improvement Fee will remain at $23 per passenger for 2023.