Opening Remarks Greg Principato Calgary, Alberta September 10, 2012 I want to welcome all of you to Calgary. One of North America s most vibrant cities, located in one of the continent s most beautiful regions. Our thanks and gratitude go to Garth, Julien, Jody and the whole Calgary team for all they have done to prepare for our visit. It is great to be up here with our chair, Thella Bowens. A year ago in her home city of San Diego, she set out an ambitious agenda for ACI- North America and it has been an honor to work with her to move forward and meet the challenges she laid out. This year we are honored to share our annual conference with ACI World. ACI World s Director General Angela Gittens and Chair of the Governing Board Yiannis Paraschis; it is a special treat to be with you today. Working with you and our colleagues from around the world is one of the most rewarding aspects of my job as ACI-North America President. ACI World is firmly established as the global Voice of Airports; accredited as such at ICAO and numerous other important international bodies. Ours is a global industry faced with global issues and under the leadership of Angela and
Yiannis it has never been stronger. I encourage all of our members from North America, especially those who do not normally attend the ACI World conference, to take full advantage of the fact that your colleagues from all over the world are here. Get to know them and learn from them; I know they will be just as anxious to get to know and learn from you. And I urge you to join us at the ACI World Annual General Assembly this afternoon. Last year in San Diego I delivered what has been characterized as an impassioned indictment of the U.S. policy framework for airport finance. Using words like Nixon era and job killing. It was all true then, and it is even more true today. But as this is a global audience I would like to take a moment to look at the broader picture. Earlier this year, I was in the audience at the ACI Asia-Pacific meeting. I recall listening to Tan Sri Bashir of Kuala Lumpur, Kerrie Mather of Sydney and Seow Hiang Lee of Singapore speak about the economic environment in which they work. Last year, I was at the Airport Exchange event and listened to leaders like Declan Collier, then at Dublin and now at London City Airport talk about his economic environment. Over the years I have heard a number of such presentations from distinguished industry leaders the world over.
When I come back to North America it is almost like I had been listening to a different language. A bit less so in Canada than in the United States, but a different language nonetheless. It has become fashionable in the United States, and to an extent in Canada, to unfavorably compare the policy framework here with that in the rest of the world. I have joined in this, wholeheartedly. I know the North American airport industry is filled with some of the best business minds I have ever run across; they are also among the most creative and driven people with whom I have worked. But they are held back by federal policies and a regulatory framework that shortchanges business acumen, stifles creativity and stunts the drive of those leading our industry. The rest of the world is moving ahead, and we in the United States and to some extent Canada are stuck. It is important for us to realize this. It is critical for our policy makers on both sides of the border to do something about it. It has been constructive that a call to global competitiveness is being spoken by so many in North American aviation.
What has been disheartening, perhaps more so in the U.S. than in Canada, is that the constructive nature of this call from the airport community is being drowned out by some who use the language of international competitiveness to seek policy change ONLY to benefit one portion of the industry or the other. I agree with those, including many in the airline industry, who have pointed out that other parts of the world are more enlightened in their aviation policies than are we. Many of you here today come from countries and regions that recognize the strategic importance of your airlines and of your aviation infrastructure. You are fortunate to work with governments and industry partners that have recognized the strategic importance of the entirety of your aviation systems. The sole goal is not the profitability of the airlines nor is it to build and export airplanes, though both are goals. The goal is a globally competitive aviation system that fosters economic growth. That is what we need on both sides of the North American border. That is why I have led the charge in the United States for a new national AVIATION policy. That is why the Canadian Airports Council is working so
hard to draw the attention of the Canadian government to the need to ensure the global competitiveness of the airport industry. It might interest those of you from other parts of the world to know that many of the same people who point to your nations success in promoting successful airlines as a way to obtain government benefits also argue AGAINST policies that would promote investment in aviation infrastructure. They point to the success of your airlines at the same time they are saying there is no reason for further investment in airport infrastructure. We already have our airport system, they say. Those other folks are just building what we already have. Balderdash. What many of you are building are the new airports that will carry the global economy forward. The new airports that will strengthen aviation s role as the lifeblood of the global economy. Airports that will help carry airlines around the world to new heights of success and prosperity. Airports that will mean, ultimately, that we risk, in this region, being turned into a feeder system for the global aviation network. Those who say we already have the infrastructure we need remind me of U.S. auto and steel executives decades ago who made similar arguments when others were investing in more modern and efficient facilities. A
decade or two later they were all over Washington begging for protection against what they deemed unfair foreign competition. That is the direction we are being pushed in aviation. It might also interest you that some who argue that your nations are more enlightened than ours also argue against investing in airport infrastructure because they claim our system is already mature. They theory is we will not grow, so we do not need to invest. This ignores decades of history, economic and demographic fact, not to mention plain common sense. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates we will add 120 million people to the U.S. population in the next four decades. We will add, in other words, the population of Japan in that time. And they say there will be no growth! Over the past decade growth in the U.S. has been slow by any standard. Yet, during that decade the amount of growth in the economy is equivalent to the entire economy of Germany. Yet they say there will be no growth! Just in the short time I have held this job, the iphone, ipad, Twitter, Facebook and a wide range of new products and industries have been invented. The pace of change and technological innovation is growing by leaps and bounds. And they say there will be no growth!
In the 1920 s, the then-head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office suggested closing the office down because everything of value that could be invented had already been invented. I hear echoes of that call in the assertion of those who believe we should not invest in the American aviation system because ours is mature. On both sides of the North American border, our policies are inadequate to keep up with the innovation and investment occurring in so many of the countries represented in this room today. We in the airport community are working hard to make the case that we need a new policy framework; one that recognizes airports important role as critical economic engines and recognizes the need to build and prepare for a competitive future as competitive nations. It is clear that the world, outside North America, realizes that a new day has dawned and that their aviation systems must modernize and evolve to realize their strategic potential. ACI-North America is committed to leading the effort to bring that realization home here and to developing new AVIATION policies that will ensure we have the airports, airlines and technologies needed to compete in the 21 st century global economy.