Press release
Airport rents: Good news for Montreal
Montreal, May 9, 2005 On behalf of its members, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal welcomes today's announcement by the Honourable Jean Lapierre, federal Minister of Transport, regarding the new airport rents policy.
While this policy will have a positive impact as early as 2006, it will bring truly significant reductions by 2010, stated Isabelle Hudon, president and CEO of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) is conducting costly expansion work to improve the capacity of its facilities, and, based on the formula used in the past, the majority of its increased revenues would have been spent in rent, forcing ADM to borrow to fund its investments. It has therefore become urgent to curb the exponential increase in rent paid to Transport Canada. In 2004, this increase was more than 300% greater than the previous year. Today's announcement will allow ADM to delay the crisis over the medium term.
The airport infrastructures are internationally strategic and contribute to the competitiveness of the Montreal region, added Ms. Hudon. The ease and speed of travel between Montreal and the rest of the world, which are crucial to the growth of the metropolis, are first and foremost contingent on the quality of our airports. For this reason, it is imperative to create an environment now that encourages ADM the most highly taxed airport administration in Canada to continue to invest in the development of its infrastructures in order to improve the services it provides to airlines and travelers.
The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal has some 7,000 members. Its primary mission is to represent the interests of the business community of Greater Montreal and to provide individuals, merchants and businesses of all sizes with a variety of specialized services to help them achieve their full potential in terms of innovation, productivity and competitiveness. The Board of Trade is Quebec 's leading private economic development organization.
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Source:
Sylvie Paquette
Coordinator, Media relations
Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal
Tel.: (514) 871-4000, ext. 4015
sylvie.paquette@ccmm.qc.ca