The new pilot at the helm of Edmonton Airports is expecting a smooth but sometimes bumpy ride.

Securing additional flights and destinations for Edmonton International Airport, dealing with soaring airport rents, beefing up cargo services and a desire to increase airport revenues are already on Reg Milley's flight plan despite having been on the job for just one day.

Milley, who took over Feb. 1 as the new president and CEO of the airport authority, replaces the outgoing Scott Clements. Previously, Milley was president and CEO of the Halifax Airport Authority, the largest air transportation complex in Atlantic Canada.

He talks passionately of landing non-stop service between Edmonton and Halifax, not because of his ties to his former home base but because a solid business case can be built.

Jack Dagley, Business Edge
Edmonton Airports CEO Reg Milley is ready to tackle all aspects of new position.

"There are a tremendous number of people from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick that work in Fort McMurray," he says, pointing to increasing business and personal travel between the two regions. If that's not enough, Milley adds that the route is a necessity because of a growing East Coast oil industry.

Cross-border service, meanwhile, can be bolstered with getting a non-stop flight to San Francisco, says Milley. Internationally, he'd like to see scheduled service to England and Germany.

But Milley will likely find himself preoccupied with the issue of escalating airport rents.

Edmonton Airports, which will pay $4.2 million in rent to the federal government in 2005, will see that figure take off in 2006. Next year, the authority will be hit with a rent bill of more than $22 million.

"That's a pretty phenomenal jump in rent. If you think of a normal landlord-tenant relationship, a normal landlord would not be able to do that," says Milley.

While the issue is not unique to Edmonton - it's affecting airports across the country - Milley says a solution needs to be found. "Airports collectively this past year paid the federal government some $240 million in rent for which we've received nothing in return," he says. "We think that's just too much coming out of the system and Edmonton is going to be pretty severely hit with that in 2006."

Milley, also chair of the Canadian Airports Council, is hopeful the federal government will soon make a move based on discussions that have been held with Ottawa.

On the other hand, he sees a bright future in cargo. "We have a great opportunity in cargo - cargo is where most of the growth is going to come for airports in the future," he says.

"We're going more and more to just-in-time inventories and a lot is going on out there. There's a lot of activity going on up north and we really want to work with the communities in northern Alberta because we think there's a tremendous amount of opportunities."

But it's not just the immediate north that is on his radar screen.

The Northwest Territories and other northern communities will also be playing larger roles, he says.

In choosing to come to Edmonton, Milley says he is flying into some friendly skies. He and his family are equally at home in Alberta as they were in Nova Scotia.

"There are two places in Canada where my family and I identified that we really want to live. We were living in one in Nova Scotia and the other is Alberta. We had lived in Alberta for 21 years and our son Kent was born here ... it's home for him," says Milley. "We just love this province."

Milley, who had held a number of executive positions in a 21-year career at Calgary's Husky Energy Inc., before moving to Halifax, liked the innovation he saw at Edmonton Airports and the team spirit.

"What really sold me on it (the position) was when I met with the board (of directors)," he says. "I've never seen such a supportive board, all of whom want to make this the best airport in the world."

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)