It's commonly known that Canada has a trade-based economy, with trade rising steadily over the last two decades. To support global trade, Canada needs strong aviation links.

Like highways, bridges, and railroads, airports are the physical transportation infrastructure that makes international trade possible. Canada's air transport sector has an economic footprint of nearly $35-billion and supports some 140,000 direct jobs, according to a report by the Conference Board of Canada and SNC Lavalin's Airports and Aviation Group. The report also affirms better connectivity between two countries not only facilities trade, it stimulates the demand for increased air travel - a 1% increase in flights is associated with a 0.88% increase in trade. In other words, Canada has a tendency to trade more with countries to which it has greater air access.

Research by the Department of Foreign Affairs last year looked at air service agreements and their impact on trade. The results show the existence of an air service agreement has a significant impact on merchandise and services trade. Over the period of study, Canada had 53% greater merchandise trade, 169% greater services trade and 269% higher commercial services trade with those countries with which Canada had an air service agreement with than those it did not. But, it's not simply a matter of saying more flights mean more trade. The trick is to ensure greater air access and the free flow of passengers and goods.

Opportunities to advance Canada's trade efforts with emerging markets such as Asia and Latin America are with countries whose citizens require a visa for travel to Canada. This is seen as a burden for travel as the process is cumbersome and not user-friendly. Fortunately Canada is working to change this, which Canada's aviation sector greatly supports.

Looking ahead to 2030, the large majority of growth will be travel to and from Asia. South America is also set to grow by two and a half times the number of visitors to 2030. But, there are visas in place for many of these countries and they act as a barrier to business and leisure travel. In February 2014, Chile was designated as a member of the Visa Waiver Program in the U.S., but this is not yet the case in Canada. And, of course, there is the hotly contested issue surrounding visas for travellers from Mexico.

A bright spot in facilitating easier travel between borders came during the North American Leaders Summit where Canada, the United States, and Mexico announced a commitment to develop a North America-wide trusted traveler program - building on the successes of the joint Canada-U.S. Nexus program and other trusted traveler programs in North America and around the world. It's a positive step, but we will have to wait and see how much of an impact the program will have compared to visa-free access.

Today, aviation is at the heart of this country's economic future and given our relatively small domestic market, Canadian businesses have to think globally to grow. Canadians are promoting Canada and Canadian business in a growing number of markets abroad, driving further economic growth and jobs. Aviation is an enabler to making this happen.

Today's airports supports a wide variety bottom line of 'green' initiatives, from advanced stormwater detention systems and use of alternative energy systems to power airport operations and reduce emissions, to development of wildlife management areas and community arts programs on airport property. 

Some of these projects were featured in Airport Council International-North America's Centerlines blog during Earth Week (April 21st-25th) by airports in the U.S. and Canada.

Here is a sampling of Earth-friendly initiatives from Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver.

Halifax Gets Creative and Collaborative with Solid Waste Management Practices: The Halifax International Airport Authority has made considerable efforts to communicate with and educate people, ranging from the individual passengers who pass through its terminals to the diverse airlines from around the world that collect waste onboard.

A�roports de Montr�al announced details of an expansion to the commercial options available at the Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport during an opening ceremony on April 3rd.

The expansion will feature five new stores and six restaurants, bringing the total to 95 available at the airport. New shops include clothing store Tristan, La Source electronics specialist and local products outlet Les d�lices d'�rable. Sushi Shop, Vino Volo, Jugo Juice and Vasco da Gama are among the new food offering available. It is expected that the expansion will create some 200 jobs at the airport.

Additionally, ADM announced travellers can move freely and seamlessly from the domestic to the international jetty.

"This is a first in Canada," said A�roports de Montr�al President and CEO James Cherry in an interview with the Montreal Gazette. "Transport Canada approved it after very carefully studying it, and it's been in effect since (Tuesday) April 1."

The two areas were formerly strictly segregated for security reasons. The only restriction is that domestic passengers cannot shop at the duty-free shop. According to Mr. Cherry, the relaxed provision will be good for business, providing more travellers with greater access to retailers and services.

The expansion project for the international jetty began in 2011 and runs until 2016.

A new program at The Halifax Stanfield International Airport will give local entrepreneurs a chance to impress travellers passing through the airport. The airport authority partnered with the Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development, based in Halifax, on the pilot program which kicked off on March 31st and is scheduled to run for a year.

Participants will set up kiosks in the domestic arrivals area on a rotating schedule for about two weeks each. The Canadian Press reported the lineup that includes a baby products company, a chocolatier, a cheesecake maker, a wine tour company, a photography outfit and a board game business.

"The theme is hand-crafted in Nova Scotia," said the Halifax International Airport Authority's director of corporate marketing and business development Jo-Anne McLean. "Our goal is to highlight entrepreneurship in Nova Scotia and
the fact that we believe strongly in the up-and-coming businesses and would like to showcase them."

The Stanfield Way

The Halifax airport is also spreading some East Coast hospitality to airports in the Far East. Airports in China are eager to learn about Halifax Stanfield International Airport's approach to developing an airport-wide culture of superior service.

Peter Spurway, Halifax International Airport Authority's vice president of corporate communications and airport experience, has been invited to speak at the fifth annual China Air Summit in Shanghai during the week of April 14th.

"There is growth underway in air travel in both China and India, and there is a huge requirement to learn how to manage airports in both countries," said Mr. Spurway in an interview with the Chronicle Herald. "A challenge for airports on the customer-service side is the many different people from different organizations, all totally unrelated, that deal with the air traveller."

The Stanfield Way brings together everyone from across the airport community and focuses them on the needs of airport passengers and visitors. It addresses an issue common to every airport in the world - that there are many organizations, from airlines to restaurants and retail outlets all serving the same person. The Stanfield Way brings all those people together to help.

"Our overall objective through The Stanfield Way is to have every person working here at the airport, regardless of their role, proactively reaching out to passengers and visitors and offering assistance. This can be as simple as providing directions to check-in, ground transportation or the new ALT Hotel," said Mr. Spurway. "We know that our passengers and visitors have a lot on their minds when they come here and we want to make their airport stay as pleasant and easy as possible."

In the past two years, nearly 500 airport staff members have graduated from the program, which has been endorsed by Saint Mary's University's Professional and Executive Development Department.

HIAA is developing an online version of The Stanfield Way workshop so that other airports around the world can access it.

Energy Rebate to Help Fund Wildlife Research

Airports Council International reported global passenger traffic increased by over 4% for the month of February, with much of the growth stemming from international travel, which grew by 5%.

Domestic markets were more subdued as domestic passenger traffic grew by 3.5%. The world's largest domestic market, North America, remained almost flat with respect to year-over-year growth for February (0.3%) and over a 12-month period (0.7%).

The Middle East continues to maintain high increases in international passenger traffic, achieving robust growth of 8.6% year over year. Dubai, which is poised to become the busiest airport for international passenger traffic in 2014, experienced growth of over 11% in international traffic for the month of February.

Latin America-Caribbean, on the other hand, which is also home to some of the world's major high-growth domestic markets, saw domestic traffic rise by 12%. Brazil, which boasts a population approaching the 200 million mark, saw one of its busiest airports rise by over 16% in domestic passenger traffic in February.

Following three sluggish years in freight traffic growth, global air freight markets resurged in the last quarter of 2013 and into 2014. Growth in air freight volumes have stayed in positive territory for the fifth month in a row, posting an overall gain of 2.6% for the month of February.

The Asia-Pacific region grew only modestly with respect to international freight at 1.4% year over year. This is consistent with the overall slowdown in the Chinese economy. While Hong Kong contracted by 1% in international freight volumes in February, the airport has seen international volumes rise by 2.2% over a twelve-month period. Shanghai has also experienced modest growth at 1.4% over the same period.

With a more favourable outlook in economic growth and global trade, European air freight markets appear to have resurfaced once again, posting an overall gain of 3.9% in total freight traffic. Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt each posted gains of 8.7%, 4.9% and 3.4% respectively.

ACI-World's monthly reports can be viewed here.