Mr. Mike Brown, Senior Planner, Strategic Planning will present to the Scandinavian Business Club on April 11th on the following topic:
Building a Better Airport for BC
Vancouver International Airport celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2011. Opened in 1931, the airport included a single runway, two hangars and a small terminal that consisted of an administration building and waiting room. Throughout the years YVR has grown and expanded into an award winning airport served by 67 airlines and connecting businesses and passengers to 119 destinations around the world.
Looking forward to the next ten years, YVR recently announced a $1.8 billion capital program. Mike Brown will explain the global context and the local benefits of this program.
About Mike:
Airports are operating in a much more competitive environment, including Vancouver (YVR). I am currently focused on strategies to respond, for example, by building closer relationships with its customers and creating new value propositions. This is particularly true in the case of 'transborder leakage', that is, with the strong Canadian dollar many Canadians are using US border airports. The bottom-line is that Canadian airports are going to have to work harder and hustle to win these customers back.
I have also built a forecasting model to predict airport passenger traffic in any country in the world based on two simple metrics: GDP/capita and tourism arrivals. These two variables explain 87% of the difference in countries' propensity for air travel.
I am currently half-way through an Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation at MIT. This is a rich and rewarding program. Also, to better understand some contemporary issues I'm brushing up on my international economics through a distance course with Athabasca University.
Mike Brown spoke to us in April 2012.