Airport Experience® News - Retail & Services Issue 2025

DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

LEVELING UP AT YYC Director Dinsdale Is Leading A Domestic Terminal Refresh

BY CAROL WARD

ditor’s Note: Chris Dinsdale joined the Calgary Airport Authority as president and CEO in August 2023. Prior to taking the helm to lead Calgary International Airport (YYC), Dinsdale spent 19 years in Hungary, most recently as chief financial officer and CEO of Budapest Airport (BUD), a position he held from April 2021 to July 2023. Dinsdale joined YYC as the airport was recovering from the pandemic and beginning its next phase of growth. He recently spoke with AXN’s Carol Ward about his vision for YYC’s continuing evolution. E

WARD: I know you’ve been running YYC for two years now, taking on management of a Canadian airport after a stint at BUD. Can you discuss the challenges you’ve faced and initiatives implemented since joining YYC? DINSDALE: I started as CFO [at BUD] and it was an interesting journey, because it was all about the financials. Through different things happening in Hungary, we eventually turned towards quality, [ultimately winning] top European airport in the 15 to 25 million passenger category. We went from a dog to a leader. The airport was at the very top end of its life cycle. It was very full and it needed to expand. In coming [to YYC], I’ve come into an airport that has a big terminal that we’re growing into – it’s in a totally different part of its life cycle. When I came in [to YYC], my observation was that cost control was pretty good – there wasn’t much to do there. Revenue generation has been a major focus. The international transborder [terminal] is good, but the domestic terminal – which is the original terminal – is old, so that’s where the main focus is. WARD: Before we dive into the details, let’s set the stage. I know you had record passenger traffic last year. Halfway through 2025, what’s the status? DINSDALE: We see moderate growth. With all the action down south of us, there have been people turning away from U.S. travel and going elsewhere. What’s good to see is that they are going elsewhere – they’re not just staying at home. Our U.S. traffic is certainly not growing like we thought it would, but it’s kind of stable and our other traffic is growing.

International traffic, in particular, is growing while domestic is a little bit softer, but overall, we expect moderate growth. WARD: You are involved in big projects with big dollars going behind them. Has the Canadian government contributed funding for the upgrades? DINSDALE: In Canada, the fixed airport assets are owned by the federal government, and we pay 12% on every incremental dollar earned to the federal government. Last year we paid C$53 million to the federal government. We paid C$20 million to the city. In the last six years we’ve received C$50 million towards our west runway, which is a C$200 million project. The rest is all us. We don’t get anything from the state.

Below: YYC’s International Terminal was renovated and expanded nearly a decade ago. Now, airport officials are working to bring the domestic terminal up to similar standards.

Above: Chris Dinsdale, president and CEO, Calgary Airport Authority.

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AX NEWS SEPTEMBER 2025