As debate rages in the U.S. over whether to privatize the nation's ATC operations, the private, not-for-profit company that has been operating Canada’s ATC system for more than 20 years announced reduced charges. Nav Canada will proceed with its proposal to decrease existing base rates by an average of 3.5 percent and implement a temporary one-year rate reduction of 0.4 percent. The company will also reimburse aircraft owners approximately $60 million in a one-time 4.6 percent refund.
“Higher-than-expected traffic growth this year has put us in a position to be able to refund $60 million to our customers,” said Nav Canada president and CEO Neil Wilson. “In the past, Nav Canada has spread the return of previous years’ surpluses, when applicable, by temporarily reducing rates for the coming year. With the unusually high traffic growth, we decided to implement a refund, which will enable our customers to fully benefit sooner.”
The 3.5 percent average reduction to base rates and the 0.4 percent one-time rate reduction will become effective for airlines on September 1. For general aviation charges, the reduction will be implemented on March 1, 2018, consistent with the revision cycle for this operating segment. Nav Canada charges are calculated on aircraft weight and powerplant type, and are levied on ATC services provided in terminal, en route and oceanic airspace.