Prince George's airport boss has climbed to new heights. It was announced on Tuesday that John Gibson, CEO of the Prince George Airport Authorty, had landed the position of board president for the Canadian Airports Council.
Gibson has served as the association's vice chair since 2012. He succeeds Edmonton Airports President and CEO Tom Ruth.
"Canada's airports are vitally important to growing Canada's economy and serving the needs of our communities," said Ruth. "John's experience in the industry will help us continue to push for policy changes that will improve the competitiveness of our industry and attract more air travel to, from, through, and within Canada. During John's tenure on the board, he has played an integral part in building strong relationships with senior government officials in his region and federally in Ottawa. The CAC membership is excited to move forward under John's leadership."
An aviation industry veteran of more than 40 years, Mr. Gibson was vice president of marketing at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport for eight years prior to joining the PGAA in 2009.
Gibson previously held senior positions in air cargo with Canadian Airlines International, where he successfully developed a series of cargo initiatives in Japan, Asia, South Pacific, South America, and the United States.
Since taking the helm at YXS he has overseen the construction of an aircraft airliner refueling apron up to international standards, been involved in the early stages of development for a logistics park for cargo handling, the recently completed Boundary Road connection for rail and road accessibility, the first 747 landing on the expanded runway plus the landing of the mega-sized Antonov cargo plane, record numbers of passengers through the YXS doors, bargained a new collective agreement with the Public Service Alliance of Canada, and lobbied for increased trade via our airport in and out of Asia.
"Cargo produces more jobs per flight for a community than passengers do," Gibson said at the start of his mandate. "A number of the economic impact studies that have been done for all the airports in Canada show that is true. In Prince George, we're on the right track going after logistics and going after a logistics-based infrastructure."
In addition to this national airport association (the Canadian Airports Council has 120 airports in its membership) Gibson has also held a board position on the Airports Council International-North America, and been active on the Canadian Airport Policy Board.
