Nav Canada Trims Fees on Big Airliners, Raises Costs for Small Planes

OTTAWA (CP) - Air traffic control service operator Nav Canada is going ahead with a new fee schedule that will trim costs for large airliners and increase levies on smaller and lower-technology planes.

The changes, described as neutral to overall revenue, will take effect May 1, Nav Canada said Thursday.

The revisions provide ''a more equitable balance in the charges between large and small aircraft, and a charging methodology more in line with international practice,'' stated Nav Canada CEO John Crichton.

He said the impact on travellers will be minor.

''If calculated on a per-passenger basis, these adjustments typically represent an increase of up to 54 cents per flight for smaller aircraft, and a reduction of about $1 per flight for larger aircraft.''

He added that several of the proposals released in December were revised after feedback from the aviation industry and private pilots.

A new daily charge for aircraft weighing less than three tonnes using major airports will be delayed until March 2008.

Nav Canada also intends to increase its rate stabilization account - a fund meant to enable it to avoid having to raise fees during a downturn in airline traffic volume caused by terrorism or other disruptions - to $75 million from $50 million.

This, it said, will be done ''through positive variances in operating results rather than through any increase in charges.''

Nav Canada, a non-profit corporation which provides air traffic control, flight information, weather reports, electronic navigation aids and other services, said it expanded the stabilization account by $9 million in its latest quarter.

Revenue was $264 million in the second quarter ended Feb. 28, up 1.9 per cent from $259 million a year earlier, as air traffic increased 1.2 per cent.

Operating expenses rose 6.8 per cent to $221 million, ''primarily due to increased pension costs,'' Nav Canada stated.

Total expenses for the December-February quarter were $286 million including the rate-stabilization provision, interest and depreciation. Nav Canada aims to break even over the full year, though quarterly revenues and costs may be out of balance because of seasonal and other factors.

The fee changes were originally scheduled to take effect March 1, but were delayed while Nav Canada pondered ''comments and suggestions'' from competing interests, particularly operators of small propeller-driven aircraft facing higher fees - intended in part to discourage them from using high-volume international airports.

Nav Canada noted in December that its terminal charges were among the highest in the world for large aircraft but among the lowest for light planes.

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