Let’s Talk Transportation Fees: Transport Canada Is Proposing New and Increased Fees

Transport Canada (TC) is requesting your feedback by April 13 on two current consultations on fee increases. One is for services for Aviation Personnel Services (pilot licenses and permits, exams, medical certificates, etc.). The other is for services related to Aircraft Airworthiness and Maintenance (CofAs, flight permits, AME licensing, amateur-built inspections, etc.).

It is important to have input in this decision-making before proposals become finalized and are passed into regulation.

It's natural to object to price increases. One justification for these increases is that they have not been increased since 1997 and the fees have not covered TC's cost of doing this work.

The second justification is that TC licenses and permits benefit the holders of these documents by providing monetary opportunities for some. While this may be true for commercial operations, it is not true for private and recreational pilots.

In fact, private pilots and pilot permit holders are prohibited by the regulations from receiving any compensation for their flying activities.

Specifics: Proposed Fees for 'Aviation Personnel Services'

Aviation Personnel Services is the TC office that issues licenses, medical certificates, pilot booklets, and many more aviation documents. For the whole list, read the entire proposal here.

There are two ways to comment on the Aviation Personnel Services increased fee proposal. Go to TC's "Let's Talk" portal and sign in to leave your comments.

You can also send comments by email. If you do, put "Comments on the Personnel increase fee proposal" in the subject line so TC staff know which issue you're commenting on. The email address is tc.carconsultations-racconsultations.tc@tc.gc.ca.

Specifics: Proposed Fees for 'Aircraft Airworthiness and Maintenance Approvals'

This department issues certificates of registration, certificates of airworthiness, AME (Aircraft Mechanical Engineer) licenses, etc. For the entire list of fees, read the entire proposal here.

To comment on the "Aircraft" proposed fee increase go to TC's "Let's Talk" portal and sign in to leave your comments.

You can also send comments by email to tc.carconsultations-racconsultations.tc@tc.gc.ca. Put "Comments on the Aircraft Airworthiness and Maintenance Approvals increased fee proposal" in the subject line so TC staff know which issue you're commenting on.

The justification for the aircraft fee proposals mirror those for the personnel fee increases. And once again, those flying older certified, amateur-built, and ultralight planes with a private pilot license, or a rec or UL permit, cannot use their aircraft for commercial purposes and so cannot recoup any increase in costs.

The current fee for a Certificate of Registration is not listed nor an increased fee.

Inflation Adjustments

These new fees will increase again every year on April 1, adjusted for inflation based on the consumer price index.

New Service Standards

Both consultations include new service standards which is the time it will take to deliver the service or, in other words, process an application and send out a document.

If no new staff are hired, then the same number of people who now cannot meet the current service standards will not be able to meet the new service standards, especially those that promise a quicker turnaround. The "get out of jail free card" is that the service standard timing does not start until information supplied by the client is complete. This is to be expected, except that there is no prescribed period of time required for TC staff to contact an applicant with missing information.

Timeline

TC's "Let's Talk" consultation ends on April 13, 2026. Please look at the reports and then submit your comments.

After this consultation period, Transport Canada will publish a "What We Heard" report summarizing the feedback they received. It's so important to give input from pilots and aircraft owners NOW before the proposed fees are developed and pre-published.

Once the developed proposals show up in Canada Gazette, Part I, expected in 2027, comments from the public are encouraged.

Once final changes are made following the consultation period, the modernized fees would be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, expected in 2028, and subsequently come into force.

There are more new and increased fees for TC services that are not in the tables.

I encourage you to read the reports to see how these or any others of the proposed fee increases might affect you individually, and how they may establish precedents for further increases down the road.

The comment period for both consultations ends on April 13, 2026.

It is important that TC hears from you before then!

Some Points to Be Included in UPAC's Comments

Ultralight Pilots Association of Canada (UPAC) does not have an official response ready to go in this issue of light flight to Transport Canada's proposals to increase fees for their services. However, the following points will be included. Use them as you develop your own comments.

After almost 40 years, TC should take a close look at their services to see if they are still relevant and necessary. The time and money saved by reducing services can be used to lower the proposed fee increases.

Computers were not as common in 1997 as they are now. It's been said that "with a computer, one person can accomplish more in a second than 100 people could with a pen and paper in an hour." This might be an exaggeration, but there is no denying that the computer has increased productivity tremendously.

Increased computer use should offset the wage and inflation increases, and TC staff should be able to issue documents and approve applications many times faster with the computer now than in the past. Has this increased efficiency from computer use been factored into the increased fee proposals?

The inflation rate between 1997 and 2026 has gone up 80 percent. The average hourly wage has increased 61 percent since 1997, and the average salary of a federal government employee has just about doubled with a nearly 100 percent increase. Yet many of the proposed fee increases are much higher than a simple doubling of them. (See the previous tables.) For example, the fee for issuing a certificate of airworthiness will increase 16 times the current fee, from $125 to $2,000!

Working Smarter

Applications previously sent by mail to regional offices, where staff handled paper files, are now sent by email to the national service team to be processed and filed electronically by staff anywhere in the country.

We, the clients, are now doing some of the work TC used to do. Documents are digitized when they are submitted. Some documents are now issued by email; the client provides the printing service. This saves TC staff time and money. In the future, even more will be done electronically, allowing even more savings.

Stop Doing Unnecessary Stuff!

First, make a clear distinction between commercial and noncommercial aviation. Commercial operators can recuperate higher fees by charging more for their services, while compensation for noncommercial activities is prohibited by the regulations.

Instead of comparing Canadian fees with those of other countries, TC should be comparing the services those countries provide to see what they have canceled. For example, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom all have programmes similar to BasicMed in the U.S. where private pilots can fly without an ICAO compliant medical certificate. The U.S. allows sport pilots to fly four-seat planes and carry one passenger with only a driver's license for a medical, as do other countries. Why can't Canada?

The Aviation Document Booklet (ADB) requirement deserves a look. The ADB was first proposed to give commercial pilots a passport-like booklet with all of his or her licenses, ratings, medical info, etc. recorded in it so crossing international borders would be easier. If TC makes the ADB optional for noncommercial pilots who never leave Canada, they will save time and money.

Who Benefits?

How does noncommercial activity benefit from the increased fees? The answer is they do not. Transport Canada Medical and Enforcement branches benefit from being able to identify airplanes and pilots. Nav Canada billing, the press, and the public benefit from information they can get from TC’s databases. The pilots and owners of noncommercial aircraft do not directly benefit by having a license, permit, or aircraft registration. Rather than increasing fees for services, TC should eliminate services that do not benefit noncommercial clients.

Service Standards

There is a “get out of jail free” card. The service standards clock doesn’t start if the info supplied by the client is not complete. But there is no requirement to notify clients that there is missing information.