A message from
the Board Chair

Balancing Our Priorities

Toronto Pearson, as a vital transportation hub, is in business to meet the evolving needs of the communities it serves. The role of the GTAA’s Board of Directors is to identify what those needs are, determine how they can best be addressed and establish a clear set of strategic priorities in collaboration with the senior management team. As with all enterprises – and especially one as complex and multifaceted as Canada’s largest airport – reconciling the views and aspirations of diverse stakeholders into an agreed course of action often requires a delicate balancing act. The Board must provide oversight and guidance to management in the pursuit of business goals while collectively representing the interests of the GTAA and all of its stakeholders.

In 2017, traffic volume at Toronto Pearson increased by 6.2 per cent to 47.1 million passengers. This extends the steep growth curve we’ve experienced since the GTAA began operating the airport in 1996. And it reflects the steady increase in demand for air travel in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, throughout Southern Ontario and across Canada. The GTAA continues to meet that demand by managing our existing facilities and resources as efficiently as possible while maintaining the highest standards of safety and security. We invest the net income generated by Toronto Pearson – which last year exceeded $112 million – into enhancing passengers’ airport experience while providing better support to our air carriers and other partners.

At the same time, though, we recognize that Toronto Pearson’s operations have an impact on nearby communities. This is a challenge shared by all airports, and especially by our peers in the top tier of global hubs. We have a responsibility to consult regularly with area residents and other stakeholders, listening to their concerns and sharing information clearly and transparently. And we have to do more than talk: we’re committed to working closely with our neighbours to mitigate, as much as possible, the potential impacts of a piece of public infrastructure that most would agree is essential for the region’s – and the country’s – economic growth and well-being.

Actions with impact

Over the past year, the GTAA continued working on several fronts to balance our operational imperative with our sensitivity to community and environmental impacts. Four areas warrant highlighting:

• Reducing our carbon footprint – In 2017, Toronto Pearson was re-certified at Level 3 in the Airport Carbon Accreditation program overseen by Airports Council International. We’re now working toward Level 4, or carbon neutrality (which only one North American airport has achieved). Meanwhile, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at Toronto Pearson continued to decline, measured both by total volume and output per enplaned passenger. Since 2006, we’ve reduced GHG levels by 54 per cent – well ahead of our targeted 20 per cent reduction by 2020.
• Easing road traffic congestion – Only about 10 per cent of passengers and airport employees use public transit to access Toronto Pearson. In the GTAA’s 2017–2037 Master Plan, published in December 2017, we’ve set a goal of 30 per cent transit usage within two decades. Central to this commitment is our proposal for an integrated regional transit centre that will dramatically improve airport access. More importantly, as CEO Howard Eng notes in his message, the transit hub we envision will help drive economic growth by improving traffic flow throughout the region – and especially for the hundreds of thousands of people who work in the Airport Employment Zone, the second-largest employment cluster in the country after downtown Toronto.
• Managing noise impacts – The Community Environment and Noise Advisory Committee (CENAC) once again held five public meetings during the year, providing an open forum for community members to discuss and ask questions about aircraft noise and related environmental issues at Toronto Pearson. High on this year’s agenda was the completion of a new five-year plan for enhancing our existing noise management program. In November 2017, after two years of extensive community engagement and consultations with aviation experts, we published Growing Responsibly: 2018–2022 Noise Management Action Plan, which sets out 10 commitments to our neighbouring communities, along with the concrete actions we’re taking to fulfill them.
• Aircraft noise is a sensitive issue for all airports located close to large urban centres. The GTAA will continue seeking ways to minimize and mitigate noise-related impacts, whether by encouraging carriers to adopt improved aircraft technology or conferring with NAV Canada on its management of flight patterns and procedures. But while we’ve tried to lead the way in noise management efforts, sometimes we get it wrong. A case in point was our closure of a busy runway for maintenance during mid-2017. This rehabilitation work was essential to maintain safe operations, and it was completed on time. However, communications around the project were not as clear as they could have been. As a result, some community members were caught off-guard by service disruptions and the temporary diversion of aircraft onto less-used flight paths. The management team has learned from this experience and developed a new construction communications protocol for future projects. The consensus at the GTAA is that we can do better – and we will.
• Investing in communities – In 2017, we maintained our commitment to invest 1 per cent of annual net revenue in support of community-based organizations around Toronto Pearson and across the region. Through the Propeller Project, the GTAA’s community investment program, we provided about $800,000 in funding to various proven initiatives, focusing in particular on support for unemployed and underemployed youth, as well as for immigrants adapting their skills and experience to the Canadian workplace.

Strength in diversity

As we work to find the right balance between our communities’ growing need for connectivity, Toronto Pearson’s vital role in driving economic growth and residents’ understandable concerns about potential impacts, we benefit from having a Board of Directors that, by design, comprises a diverse range of appointees from all levels of government, as well as key business sectors. In the past year we were pleased to welcome four new members:

Kathleen Keller-Hobson sits on the boards of several companies, including CCL Industries Inc. In 35 years of legal practice, she specialized in public and private M&A, corporate finance and governance.

Hazel McCallion knows Toronto Pearson well from her 36 years as Mayor of the City of Mississauga. She is now Chancellor of Sheridan College and a special advisor to the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Mark Schwab brings a wealth of relevant experience to our Board, having served in a number of senior executive roles in the airline industry, most recently as CEO of Star Alliance.

Johan van ’t Hof, CEO of Tonbridge Corporation, a merchant bank and financial advisory firm, has deep experience in infrastructure financing and public private partnerships.

We would also like to recognize the many valuable contributions of Brian Herner and Terry Nord, who retired from the Board in 2017 after completing their nine-year maximum terms. And we congratulate former Board member Ian Clarke on his move from interim to full-time Chief Financial Officer of the GTAA.

Over the past year, Howard Eng once again demonstrated the outstanding leadership ability that has earned him a global reputation in the aviation industry. Since taking on the CEO’s role in 2012, Howard has built an exceptional senior management team with an ideal blend of skills and experience – including fresh perspectives from other sectors. As a result, the GTAA today is a more nimble, innovative and forward-looking enterprise.

Lastly, we’re indebted as always to our broad and diverse community of stakeholders. With your engagement and support, we’ll continue to balance the competing demands, expectations and aspirations that are shaping Toronto Pearson’s evolution into one of the world’s leading airports.