Quote:
Originally Posted by Truenorth00
What's the risk to YHM with Pickering talk picking up? I feel like YHM needs to put together a plan to grow. They could easily approach the infrastructure bank for a low-interest loan package to help fund some major infrastructure work like a new terminal, fuel supply pipeline and parking structure.
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Interesting question. The Hamilton Airport’s own surveys’ show that 20% of their passengers come from that side of Toronto, and as it is good for YHM, it give ammunition to justify an airport in Pickering. Taking longer to make a decision is allowing the area to very quickly grow and may cause a problem with it being built with people objecting to the noise that a new airport would make when they had bought in the area because it was quiet.
A new airport at Pickering would most likely take a good 5 to 10 to 15 years to build after permission is given as they is no infrastructure in the area other than the 407. New 10-year agricultural leases began on April 1, 2018 for the lands. 70,000 homes in Seaton would be just four kilometres from a runway.
I believe the threat to YHM is not Pickering anymore but Waterloo International Airport (YKF) and London International Airport (YXU).
Waterloo Regional Council approved the $375 million, 20 Year Airport Master Plan in April 2017.
The 20 Year Airport Master Plan consists of five development stages. Each stage is triggered by pre-set annual passenger volume:
- Stage 1 - Upon approval of 20 Year Airport Master Plan (April 2017) Plan for 500,000 passengers a year
- Stage 2 - Airport reaches 250,000 passengers (Roughly 3 Boeing 737 flights per day) Plan for 1 million passengers & build for 500,000 passengers annually
- Stage 3 - Airport reaches 500,000 passengers (Roughly 6 Boeing 737 flights per day) Plan for 1.5 million passengers & build for 1 million passengers annually
- Stage 4 - Airport reaches 1 million passengers (Roughly 12 Boeing 737 flights per day) Build for 1.5 million passengers annually
- Stage 5 - Airport reaches 1.5 million passengers (Roughly 18 Boeing 737 flights per day) Build for 2.5 million passengers annually
They have 2 flights a day during the summer and one a day in the winter with Westjet and seasonal service with Sunwing. Total passenger is les that 150,000 per year.
London International Airport is YHM’s biggest competition. In 2018 YXU did 537,000 passengers and are predicting more than 850,000 passengers in 2019 and projects over 1.2 million passengers by 2020.
They are served by:
Air Canada and Air Canada Express to Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal
Air Canada Express –Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto–Pearson
Air Transat - Seasonal: Cancun, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana
Canadian North - Charter: Halifax, Miami, Moncton, Saskatoon
Sunwing Airlines - Seasonal: Cayo Coco, Montego Bay, Varadero
Swoop - Abbotsford, Cancun (begins October 24, 2019), Edmonton, Las Vegas (begins October 3, 2019), Orlando (begins October 26, 2019) Seasonal: Halifax
WestJet - Calgary
WestJet Encore - Toronto–Pearson Seasonal: Montréal-Trudeau
London already has a large modern 2 story terminal with 8 gates, with 4 having bridges. They have 19 flights a day from YUX.
terminal-services-london-international-airport by
R L, on Flickr