The air cargo industry is extremely important to Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, the City of Winnipeg, and Winnipeg Airports Authority. An important ingredient to Winnipeg’s success as a cargo airport is its 24-hour airport operations.
Based on past studies in 1989 and 1998, a restriction on nighttime activities (between midnight and 6:00 a.m.) at Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport would cause a significant contraction of the local economy because many of these operations cannot be rescheduled to another time of day.
Nighttime activity supports about 565 jobs annually, almost $14 million in labour income and over $57 million in airport-related expenditures. When daytime cargo activity is added in, the importance of the air cargo industry in Winnipeg is even greater.