News
NAV CANADA announces decision on rate revisions

Aug. 19, 2008, Ottawa – NAV CANADA today announced its decision to implement the rate revisions proposed in the Notice of Revised Service Charges released for consultation in June 2008.

The Company will maintain a one per cent reduction in its service charges that was implemented on a temporary basis on August 1, 2007 and set to expire on August 31, 2008.

“This rate reduction stands to save our customers an estimated $13 million per year,” said John Crichton, President and CEO. “Our record on service charges speaks for itself. Overall charges are only five per cent higher than they were in 1999 when they were fully implemented, which is 17 percentage points below the growth in inflation.”

The Company is also implementing the final phase of adjustments to the weight exponent for its Terminal Service Charge and the terminal component of its Daily Charge. This change was originally announced in April 2006, following extensive consultation on changes to the overall NAV CANADA charging methodology. This revision will decrease the weight exponent from 0.85 to 0.8, reducing the charges for larger aircraft and increasing charges for smaller aircraft.
The result will be a more equitable balance in the charges between large and small aircraft, and a charging methodology more in line with international practice. This change in methodology is revenue-neutral to NAV CANADA.
 
“The impact of this adjustment for travellers on commercial air carriers is minimal,” said Crichton. “We charge airlines and aircraft owners directly but if calculated on a per passenger basis, these adjustments typically represent an increase of less than 50 cents per flight for smaller aircraft such as a Dash 8, while reducing the costs by up to 85 cents per passenger per flight for larger aircraft such as a B 747.”
 
The decision followed a review of the representations received during the consultation period. The effective date for the revision in customer service charges is September 1, 2008. However, for the annual and quarterly charges, the proposed revision will be effective March 1, 2009, consistent with the normal date for revisions in these charges.

Details of NAV CANADA’s revised service charges are available on the Company’s web site at www.navcanada.ca .

NAV CANADA, the country’s civil air navigation services provider, is a private sector, non-share capital corporation financed through publicly-traded debt.  With operations coast to coast, NAV CANADA provides air traffic control, flight information, weather briefings, aeronautical information services, airport advisory services and electronic aids to navigation.