Business growth at Edmonton International airport is adding significant value to the economy of Alberta.
For most Canadians, a commute to work means a crawl by car through peak-hour traffic or a bus ride to the office. But for thousands of resource industry workers in Northern Alberta, commuting can be an airplane flight from the other side of the country, or even another country altogether.
Many of them are fly-in-fly-out workers in the oil sands, while others work in the region's vast natural gas fields and for companies that provide essential services to the energy sector.
The charter airlines ferry thousands of workers to and from the oil and gas fields. They are a major contributor to the provincial economy and bring welcome business to nine airports in the region. Two in particular, Edmonton International and Fort McMurray, have the lion's share of the traffic. This year, Edmonton expects to handle 900,000 charter passengers and Fort McMurray just over 200,000.
Tom Ruth, president and CEO at Edmonton International, says the number of passengers using the airport's general and business aviation terminal that handles charter flights is up over 37 per cent over 12 months and should top 900,000 for the year.
"Edmonton International plays a key business role by bringing workers into an extremely tight labour market," he says. "The resource development sector in the region needs more skilled workers, and they are being flown in from around Canada and even overseas."
Fort McMurray International is the closest large airport to what is arguably Canada's most dynamic economic hub – the Alberta oil sands – and it presents a major challenge to Fort McMurray Airport Authority president and CEO Scott Clements.
The region has been booming for more than a dozen years and there is no sign of a slowdown anytime soon. Demand for services at Fort McMurray International grew so quickly in the three years up until 2009 that the facilities were totally overwhelmed.
"The terminal was designed and built for a quarter of a million passengers when it opened in 1985," says Mr. Clements. "By the time we transferred to the new terminal that's just opened, we were cramming 1.2 million people a year into that little building."
Apart from business and leisure travellers, the Fort McMurray airport also caters to just over 250,000 charter flight passengers annually, most of them workers who are flown in and out of the oil sands work camps.
Even though the new terminal has just opened, the airport is already planning an expansion to meet rapidly growing demand.
"We built the new facility based on the assumption in 2010 that by 2030 we would reach 1.25 million passengers a year. We're already at 1.3 million, and although 250,000 are charter passengers who use the old terminal, we are rethinking our master plan," says Mr. Clements.
While resource sector business is important for Edmonton International, travellers from outside of Canada are also a huge growth driver. So far this year, international travel is up 16 per cent in total and almost 38 per cent in the last quarter alone.
"The world is taking notice," says Mr. Ruth. "Since March, we've had three new world carriers come to Edmonton: Icelandair, American Airlines and, most recently, KLM."
And with the growth comes added value to the provincial economy. The last economic impact study in 2009 showed that the airport contributed $780-million to Alberta's GDP. It's estimated to be over $1-billion by now.
In 2009, the airport accounted for 4,400 direct and 5,600 indirect jobs. Those numbers are estimated to have increased to 5,000 and 7,000, respectively.
"Much of our activity is closely connected to the oil and gas sector, including our cargo traffic," says Mr. Ruth. "To make it as easy as possible for businesses to receive and process their cargo, we developed a unique cargo village right alongside the runway so that the freight is handled quickly and efficiently and is on the road sooner than if it had to be moved first to a warehouse on another part of our property."
He adds that Edmonton International is well positioned to meet the region's air cargo needs. It is Canada's northernmost major airport, whose location on the Northern polar transportation route between Asia and North America makes it an ideal stop not only for refuelling, but for cargo imports/exports for trans-Pacific traffic.
"Meeting the expanding logistics needs of business and industrial and community stakeholders is a vital ingredient in regional economic growth, and we have a mandate to drive that growth," says Mr. Ruth.
This content was produced by Randall Anthony Communications, in partnership with The Globe and Mail's advertising department. The Globe's editorial department was not involved in its creation.