Ottawa....

Doesn't YEG have a particularly neat hotel being adorned on or near the terminal? I at least remember renderings that were fairly exciting.

As far as personal preference, I'd have to agree with the consensus on here that Vancouver is the best. I also like YOW. YYC is okay, but those ceramic oversized mobiles that adorn the concourse really bug me. Calgary is such a monster of a business centre, I wished its terminal flexed that muscle more, as opposed to coming off as a comic book.

I'd say that Pearson *is* an average airport, for its age and size. It's nice, but so should any brand new airport be. It certainly isn't excessive. Heathrow's terminal 5 is similar in age and passenger capacity, but cost almost twice as much.

From what I recall reading, more than a third of the landing fees are due to disproportionately high government rents. And I would submit that the remaining portion being high doesn't have much to do with the airport itself, but rather the fact that it's one of the fastest growing hubs in the world, requiring a lot of capital expenditure (that is financed privately, and thus passengers pay the brunt of it). I'm sure that if it had been possible to predict the growth in 1939 that they would have simply charged slightly higher fees the subsequent 70 years, resulting in current fees being much lower.

I thought those were hokey when I first saw them in the 'D' pier, but now that I have a child they are a great time-killer, kids will turn those keys and watch those planes go flying around right until its time to board your flight.

Plus the aircraft on them represent a bunch of very important aviation companies or people from the YYC area. Like Fred MCall and Kenn Borek Air.

The only real downside they have is that they do crowd the boarding areas where they are.

There was a wing-like hotel design that got squashed due to the US owner/operator pulling out due to the who financial crisis/depression thing, but rumour have it coming back...

I was in San Francisco last week and was REALLY impressed by SFO. It is huge (3 terminals), yet very organized, very modern, and fairly easy and quick to get around thanks to their AirTrain between terminals.

^concur, although their baggage system is a joke. My bag, along with a few others, were caught in the secure side of the carousel and we were told that it would have to wait for another arrival to restart. We waited about 20mins.

ridiculous

London is gettinga 15 000 sf exapnsion on its current terminal they are also adding 5 bridges.
Heres what it looks like now. courtesy of egypt69 at ssc
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/u...4/IMG_0568.jpg
and what it will look like courtesy of The Hawk also ssc
http://swoa.freeforums.org/download/...=940&mode=view

reposted from YYC thread

What happened to the plan to consolidate all three Pearson terminals (the new #1, the now-demolished #2, and #3) into one mammoth terminal? Is it still inching forward? I haven't read or heard anything about it in at least five years.

Those plans are still intact, but only get put in motion once Pearson reaches certain PAX targets. I'm not sure what the exact numbers are, but I doubt any expansion will happen till Pearson's PAX numbers start bumping up to 45 million passengers.

Pearson is large by Canadian standards, but isn't even in the global top 35 busiest airports.

I see, thanks. I didn't know that expansion was contingent upon reaching certain passenger numbers.

Yeah, Pearson's numbers haven't really grown very much over the last few years and the new Terminal 1 isn't any where close to its capacity yet. I'm actually rather surprised how few passengers Pearson handles each year.

^^I wasn't aware of that. But they spent so much money on that fancy rail link and all those loopy highways connecting the terminals!

Newly-renovated hallway at the Halifax airport (used to be a one-storey windowless deal):

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...0/bf4dc26e.jpg
(self-made)

The growth of the Quebec City airport has been pretty strong in the last few years. In 2009, international traffic increased by 29,3%, mostly due to new destinations like Bordeaux, Marseille, Barcelona and Malaga. For the 6 first months of 2010, overall traffic increased 13%.

The management of the airport just received a long term growth report from specialised firm Arup. The firm forecasts that the number of passengers will increase from 1 035 000 in 2009 to 3 000 000 by 2030. Hence, even if the airport underwent important renovations (70M$) in 2008, Arup laid out a 225M$ investment plan to be put in place before 2015.


http://www.quebecregion.com/img/cata...lbum-grand.jpg
http://www.quebecregion.com/fr/quoi_...ec_31462?a=vis

^ Nice. I have yet to visit any airports east of Montreal, that I can remember.

QC's port looks nice.

Quebec City has a beautiful little airport. Traveling in Canada is enjoyable. Both major airlines fly modern aircraft, and almost all of our airports are new (or soon will be...if we can ever fix the broken pipes).

Well I'll be honest : the airport used to look very...very messy. For a long time, Quebec city was considered a side trip for people going to Montreal whereas now, Quebec is becomming a destination in and of itself. That's why airline companies have manifested an interest in the airport in recent years. Also, even residents of the city used to go to Montreal to fly internationally, a situation that is changing. However, if the international traffic is going extremely well, the domestic traffic still has a long way to go. People in western Canada do not pass through Quebec city's airport that much. Let's hope that the new flights offered by Westjet and Porters will change that!!!

Anyway, they really did a great job with the new terminal, especially with the business center. It seems to have paid off since the American Society for Quality has ranked the airport 1st in North America and 7th in the world for its costumer service.

http://cache.virtualtourist.com/4207...ort-Quebec.jpg
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/40357c/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3085/...2c2222.jpg?v=0
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8245538...n/photostream/

Here's a preview of what the new international arrival terminal is supposed to look like.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/images/biz...4/28/67044.jpg
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/...ean-lesage.php

you mean broken colasped sewer line sitting under a columb?

I was in quebec City for the first time a few years ago and was surprised at how small it was at the time, it made sense with the proximity to Montreal that alot of the traffic would be through there especially during the Mirabel years. Now Quebec has an opportunity to shine as a destination(as you mentioned) and what a way to welcome the world with your beautiful new terminal :cheers:

Santé!! :cheers:

Yeah, that.

Just flew through ywg on route back to Edmonton. Has anything change it the present terminal since the 50s? It was taking a trip back in time! The new terminal is looking close to finished... That was looking good.

The terminal (opened in 1964) was expanded back in the 1980s, but it was designed in a way that made the new portions indistinguishable from the original. But yes, apart from that expansion, not a long changed apart from when the local airport authority took over from Transport Canada sometime during the mid-1990s and festooned the terminal with ugly gewgaws (advertisements, tacky kiosks, things hanging from the ceiling, etc.).

Hopefully the Winnipeg Airports Authority will show a little more restraint with the new terminal.

what will happen to the old terminal in Winnipeg? will it be taken down or renovated and reused?

I was in the London (CYXU) 'International' Airport as well on a recent... I've seen nicer greyhound stations...

Before our new terminal opened about 10 years ago, Ottawa had, by far, the most embarrassing airport for a city our size. Our new terminal is great and I see a lot of similar design characteristics in these current aiport expansions accross Canada (high ceilings, tube construction, wood panelling, etc.).

We are currently undergoing our second expansion of the already-ginormous parking structure since the new terminal opened. We will never be a big hub, due to our proximity to TO and MTL, but business has certainly been booming of late. The new structure adds 850 new parking spots and leaves room for a possible 750 spot expansion in the future. Photos from: http://www.ottawa-airport.ca

http://www.ottawa-airport.ca/images/...s/parkade1.jpg

http://www.ottawa-airport.ca/images/...s/parkade4.jpg

http://www.ottawa-airport.ca/images/...teServices.jpg

http://www.ottawa-airport.ca/images/...r2Formwork.jpg

http://www.ottawa-airport.ca/images/...s&formwork.jpg

The government itself draws a lot of business. A good amount of Thunder Bay's airport traffic is because a lot of remote First Nations have offices here, and come to the city regularly for business stuff. Nishnawbe Aski Nation doesn't represent any community near Thunder Bay, but it's headquartered here, and the only way to get around is by air.

Every few years, YOW gets about 290 captive passengers. ;)

It will most likely be demolished. Personally, I think it's a great example of International Style design and I would love to see it preserved (so would Heritage Canada, for that matter) but unfortunately the WAA hasn't had much luck in finding an alternate use for it. I suppose that an airport terminal is pretty specific in purpose, so that fact combined with its age means that it would be pretty difficult to find another practical use for it that wouldn't be financially ruinous.

The land the old terminal sits on will probably become part of an eventual Phase II for the new terminal, but that could be many years (if not decades) away.

For what it's worth, I never thought that the old Ottawa airport was bad, although the new terminal sure is nice.

That is an interesting point that you touch on regarding the design vernacular of new Canadian airport terminals, though. Just as the 1960s spawned a series of beautiful International Style terminals across the country, the last ten years have given us the swooping, glass curtained, very technological terminals (with just a touch of "the local" in the form of wood panelling, rough-hewn logs, water features or indigenous art) that typify commercial aviation in Canada. I like the look, but it'll probably take a good 30 years before I feel any warm and fuzzy nostalgia for it. ;)

Thunder Bay built a "swooping, glass curtained, very technological terminal (with just a touch of "the local" in the form of wood panelling, rough-hewn logs, water features or indigenous art)" in 1994.

Were we the first?

To be honest, those pictures are beautiful. I personally believe the current Winnipeg airport is one of the ugliest, if not the ugliest mainline national airport. Just check out the Wiki link below and look at the pics of the ceiling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_airport

I look forward to traveling to QC, and I will go once I get my french brushed up. However, I am surprised by the lack of national flights from QC...basically I didnt find anything other than to Ottawa, Montreal, or Toronto

hahaha man I hope they fix this fast!! At least it will be open sooner rather than later.

I love the way you drive around...very smart, very cool, very fun. I think Ottawa's airport looks awesome. I flew from there back to Winnipeg a couple months ago.

Travel a lot eh?

Yeah, just to add to that point, it seems like it will be demolished. Apparently the age factor is the biggest thing, as my friend's dad works in and out there a lot. He said the foundation has shifted so much you would think it was in an Earthquake.

I'm not going to miss it however, if it does end up being demolished :P

I absolutely love the new terminal though.

That's just shoddy maintenance. They could have that fixed in a day or two if the will was there. Unfortunately, they've been letting the place slide since work began on the new terminal.

Thunder Bay has service to Quebec City. Moncton, too. No idea why. Outside of tourism to QC I can't figure out how either flight is economical. Still nothing to Calgary even though a tonne of people from this region live there.

I feel it is my duty to make my fellow canadians realize that Quebec city cannot be summed up by the Château Frontenac and the Provincial Government. It is true that the public sector and tourism are important for the city, but much less so than it used to be.

The economic structure of the city has changed and many sectors, mostly concentrated in high technology, are very strong. The city boasts the highest concentration of research and technology transfer centers in the province, and its high tech park is recognized for its researchers’ expertise in advanced sectors. It mostly stems from the presence of many universities, the biggest of which is Laval University with its 40 000 students. Hence, there is strong growth in optics, photonics, electronics, software, computer services, geomatics, video games, defense, biotechnologies, biomedicine, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, functional foods, agri-food processing, plastics, composite materials, secondary wood processing... The insurance and engineering sectors are also very important, as is the burgeoning schale gas industry. Quebec also is the door to the Beauce region, with its plethora of small and medium size companies.

I can also mention the great attractiveness of Quebec's convention center. It welcomes some 200,000 visitors each year and has been named Best Convention Centre in the World from the International Association of Congress Centres.

Common people! :shrug: I know we are not Calgary but things are moving here as well!!! The city might be old by Canadian standards but it is not a stagnating tourism town. There is a 300M$ eco-neighbourhood under construction, 2 others are in the planning stages and a new stadium will be constructed.

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system! I'm cool now :notacrook:

Sur ce, vous m'excuserez mais je vais aller savourer un délicieux filet mignon cuit sur le barbecue!

Count me as a fan of Winnipeg's old terminal. It may be showing its age, but it has very solid architectural bones.

I try to get around, both for business and for vacation.

It may be vintage, but it's beyond inadequate for city of Winnipeg's size and has to go. Our passenger count has been increasing for years, and that airport is just too cramped to handle the millions of people that pass through there annualy.

I have never noticed any direct flights to these places out of TB. Are these non-stop services and which airlines provide these flights?

According to Wikipedia, which is maintained by air geeks (who are almost as pedantic as bus geeks), Air Canada Jazz has service between Thunder Bay and Quebec City and Thunder Bay and Moncton. It doesn't say if it is direct or not but I assume it would. All of the flights listed on there that I know are direct.

I just checked AC's website, and according to it, there are no direct flights between TB and QC or Moncton; only to Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg. There would then have to be a stop over in either TO or Ottawa before heading onto Moncton or QC from TB.

I see now, they were added by an IP address in April. Maybe they were running then? The same person added Ottawa to Saint John airport.

Maybe it was seasonal or something?

they chased after the western cdn aviation museum to take it over they can't aford to they went after red rive to move avaition related stuff into it they don't got the will to chase for funding for that as they are focusing on the royal bank renos atm and i've herd its supost to get blown up for a movie but i duno though but basicaly it coming down sadly

the art is being saved as far as i know though

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2223/...7bbaaeba_o.jpg



http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2399/...5445e6a7_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3064/...502fefc5_o.jpg

the old old terminal is still standing u know as the western canada aviation musuem

my friend took a pic of that when he was there last month - it looks cool - so retro its hip again

It looks pretty 70's, but the airport itself works pretty well.

I mean, at least its small so catching flights is not a hassle, but it certainly feels cramped like RTD was saying.

It is too small for Winnipeg though, and I've never been a big fan of the terminal myself...the worst is the international area.

at least they don't have many int'l flights - iceland and where else?

i guess the states is considered international?

the states part is so cramped its not funny.............

the internatonal arivals is through the basement witch is the escaladers seen in my shot of the big peac of art

ah the arrivals here are all on the bottom level

Yes, the US is considered international, just like at every other non-US airport. We'll be getting more international fights after the new terminal opens up.