Winnipeg | James Armstrong Richardson International Airport

[The Jabroni]

I'm curious that if our recent invite to the EU as an associate member does go through and passes in both respective government's parliament, traffic through our airports and potential new routes into Europe would be huge! Maybe direct flights to some destinations, and maybe even new European air carriers making their stops here and throughout Canada would further expand and increase traffic at the airport.

The numbers in the next 18 months would be telling, should things go ahead between Canada and Europe.

[Wpg_Guy]

Manitoba premier prefers no airport privatization, says no to rich receiving money to run Richardson
Aviation expert says regional airports could benefit from cash raised through investment in Canada's 4 largest

Bartley Kives · CBC News · Posted: Sep 22, 2026


One Montreal aviation expert says investment in Canada's largest airports could be used to fund improvements in smaller regional airports such as Richardson International Airport. (John Einarson/CBC)

As the federal government prepares to allow private investment into Canada's four busiest airports, Manitoba's premier said he has no interest in seeing regional airports like Winnipeg's Richardson International have similar opportunities.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced last week his government plans to invest in aviation infrastructure by inviting private entities to purchase the rights to operate Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Trudeau International Airport in Montreal and Calgary International Airport.

The federal government would continue to own the land at the four busiest airports and the money could be used to build new regional or remote airports or improve existing airports.

More than 47 million passengers flew through Toronto's Pearson in 2025, while Vancouver, Trudeau in Montreal and Calgary handled approximately 27 million, 22 million and 19 million passengers, respectively, according to airport annual reports.

The federal government made no mention of permitting similar private investments in the next-busiest tier of Canadian airports, which include Edmonton (8 million passengers in 2025) as well as Ottawa's Macdonald-Cartier, Winnipeg's Richardson and Stanfield in Halifax (between five and four million passengers each).

Premier Wab Kinew said Monday he would not like to see private investment in Richardson.

"When you privatize an airport, the only way for the big investors to make money is by either making it more expensive for you to fly or by cutting the wages of the people who work there, or both. And neither sound good to me," Kinew said during a press conference at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

The premier said he does not believe investment opportunities opening up at Canada's largest airports could leave smaller regional airports at a disadvantage.

"When has rich people getting a bunch of money ever made it easier for us?" the premier asked.

"I would point you to the precedent of it having never happened once in the history of humankind, so colour me a little skeptical that all of a sudden handing over a ton of money-making opportunity to some rich folks is going to help the average Canadian out there."

Canada's largest airports are run by quasi-non-governmental agencies that seek to generate enough revenue to finance their own maintenance and expansion. While most of them are private, non-share-capital corporations, they tend to have public oversight in the form of board members appointed by various levels of government.

Joh Gradek, a faculty lecturer in aviation management at McGill University in Montreal, said the Carney government's plan to sell the rights to operate Canada's four largest airports could generate tens of billions of dollars to invest in other airports.

Right now, Gradek said, airports are limited in the amount of revenue they can raise through levying airport improvement fees on passengers, renting out concessions and charging landing fees, among other revenue streams. They're forced raise the rest of the money they need through borrowing or issuing bonds.

Smaller regional airports have even fewer revenue opportunities, he said.

"They don't have a lot of money around to improve the customer service side of the airport," he said Monday in an interview, describing Richardson as a functional airport where there is not much to do. "I think that the airports in Canada are sorely behind the rest of the world."

Barry Prentice, who directs the Transport Institute at the University of Manitoba's Asper School of Business, said last week there have been mixed results with airport privatization around the world.

Prentice told CBC Radio One's Up To Speed privately owned airports tend to raise fees for passengers and local airport authorities pay more attention to ensuring they maintain regional routes and rent out concessions to local businesses.

It is not yet clear what form private airport ownership will take in Canada, he added.

Nick Hays, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Airports Authority, said in a statement the federal government has not had any discussions about private investment in Richardson.

Hays said he is closely monitoring developments regarding the larger airports.

CBC Manitoba

[CoryB]

^^ My concern with the possibility privatization of airport passenger terminals is essentially how it may be monetized. Being real here, major airports and shopping malls are starting to have a lot of similarities. This leads to my theoretical model of Cadillac Fairview running an airport passenger terminal. I then think about how shopping malls look at sales per square foot and how airport terminals currently have lots of non-monetized space. The idea of how CF has attempted to charge for premium parking comes to mind. Applying that to the airport model, "want a seat at your gate? It will cost you $30. Want to also charge your phone or plug in your laptop? An extra $20. If you don't want those fees you can stand or wait in the general holding area far from the gate.

Of course more retail, food services and other possible revenue generation may happen, for example a nail saloon or a massage studio.