Halifax Stanfield International Airport Developments

[halifaxboyns]

In terms of Ottawa's construction, versus Halifax - I think the financial abilities of YHZ versus YOW have to be kept in mind. I don't think YHZ would have been able to afford a complete new construction; although it could still happen in the future. It could happen by moving the hangers next to the regional aircraft stands (along Barnes Avenue) and build the new facility there and then connect it to the old terminal.

In fact; you could do a combination of new/old. Build the new terminal to have the international/swing gates and then connect to the old terminal where the regional stands are. Then begin demolishing the old terminal from the international area right to the regional stands and rebuild that end. Of course, you'd have to totally rework Barnes Drive and the new hotel wouldn't be central to anything anymore!

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by q12

Some interesting quick estimates:

Halifax Stanfield 's terminal ground floor foot print is in the 400,000 sqft range.

Ottawa Macdonald Cartier's terminal ground floor foot print is in the 300,000 sqft range.

Ottawa's longest walk gate to gate is only about 1,700 ft.

At Halifax Stanfield walking from Gate 2E (flight from Moncton for example) to a connecting U.S. flight at gate 46 (to Boston) is about 2,700 ft gate to gate. Not far from a 1 km walk. A flight coming in from the U.S. connecting to an airline that you would have to check in again for could result in up to a 1.2 km walk (good exercise ) .

Interesting numbers. I did a comparison from Google Earth and pasted the two at the same scale below.

At first glance it appears as though the two main terminals are almost the same size, but when the long gates at either end are included then Halifax does appear to have a larger footprint. I would estimate the Halifax footprint to be closer to 340,000 - 350,000 square feet (including the long gates at either end). From end to end, the Halifax airport certainly does appear to be a long walk . It could possibly become an even longer walk by 2020 if passenger numbers rise; here is the airport masterplan - http://hiaa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Master-Plan-Public.pdf - some of it has already been done such as the main runway extension.

I am not sure of the total square feet on all levels of the two airports. I have never been in the Ottawa terminal (new or old) but from internet images it looks quite impressive.

Not many airports stand out in my mind, although I like the cozy feel to the Halifax airport. By cozy I mean warm, familiar and comfortable (but not small). It is tough to apply the term heritage to a modern airport but I think Halifax has maintained the good parts of the original airport (I love the main food court area).




Here is another image showing a zoomed out view of the Halifax and Ottawa airports - http://imageshack.com/a/img22/271/o71j.jpg

[fenwick16]

Out of curiosity, I did a size comparison of the 8 busiest airports in Canada (I believe Halifax is #7 in rank in the number of passengers handled).

In the image below the scale is as shown in the image. So even the airports that look relatively small are large structures. Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal are very large.



The images that I took from Google Earth and cropped are shown in the following link - http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img713/2117/6l4y.jpg. I zoomed in on each Google Earth image so that the images were as close as possible to the 504m bar-length scale (the scale of the images varied from 502 - 507 meters).

[halifaxboyns]

I know Winnipeg Airport was mentioned so I thought I'd share a video on the YWG Airport opening. The arrivals area is certainly very well designed! This video might give a better tour of the facility - gives you a sense of how airports can change.

If you look at the video of the departures area; it certainly favors my comment about the fact that the increased building height makes the departures area feel way more roomy (as opposed to YHZ) which does feel cramped.

[ghYHZ]

Here’s a couple of shots from an old 1960’s brochure on Canada’s Airports.

Straighten out that slightly “V” shaped terminal at Ottawa “Uplands International Airport” (top photo) and you have the new terminal at Halifax “Kelly Lake International Airport”

[fenwick16]

Thank you for posting the pictures ghYHZ. I had never seen that aerial view of the Halifax terminal before (I had only seen street level views).

I didn't realize that the Halifax terminal was such a long building back when it was originally built; I imagined it as only the multilevel-glass walled section.

The first airplane flight that I ever took was from the Halifax airport to Sydney, NS around 1976 - 1977 (as a university student). I believe it only cost $13 on stand-by, if my memory is correct (it didn't cost much more than a bus ticket). It was an interesting flight; there was heavy fog at the Sydney airport and the pilot attempted to land once and pulled up, and then went around and landed on the second try. I think the airline was Eastern Airlines but that was a long time ago so I am not absolutely sure.

[ghYHZ]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

The first airplane flight that I ever took was from the Halifax airport to Sydney, NS around 1976 - 1977 (as a university student). I believe it only cost $13 on stand-by, if my memory is correct (it didn't cost much more than a bus ticket). It was an interesting flight; there was heavy fog at the Sydney airport and the pilot attempted to land once and pulled up, and then went around and landed on the second try. I think the airline was Eastern Airlines but that was a long time ago so I am not absolutely sure.

That would be Eastern Provincial Airways……

[halifaxboyns]

I was always amazed that EPA was ever able to make money - having a 737 run on routes like YHZ to Sydney or YHZ Moncton/Saint John always seemed like over kill to me. Even today, I doubt you'd even be able to fill an Embraer 175 on a run and that seats about 70 unless you only wanted to do one or two flights a day (at most).

[ghYHZ]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I was always amazed that EPA was ever able to make money - having a 737 run on routes like YHZ to Sydney or YHZ Moncton/Saint John always seemed like over kill to me.......

Here’s the flight itineraries for Oct 1979. Look at Flights 111/112......now those were “Milk Runs” and all with 737 equipment. EPA did eventually add HS748s for the shorter commuter type runs such as YHZ-YSJ/YFC/YQM/YYG etc

PV111 departed St John’s at 1235pm and arrived Montreal at 505pm
PV112 departed Montreal at 900am and arrived in St John’s at 430pm

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by ghYHZ

Here’s the flight itineraries for Oct 1979. Look at Flights 111/112......now those were “Milk Runs” and all with 737 equipment. EPA did eventually add HS748s for the shorter commuter type runs such as YHZ-YSJ/YFC/YQM/YYG etc

PV111 departed St John’s at 1235pm and arrived Montreal at 505pm
PV112 departed Montreal at 900am and arrived in St John’s at 430pm

I remember taking a flight with EPA when they reached Toronto and it was Toronto, Montreal, Saint John (or was it Moncton?) to Halifax. I just remember thinking (and I was a kid) this seems a bit...long.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by ghYHZ

That would be Eastern Provincial Airways……

Thank you for the information ghYHZ. It was Eastern Provincial Airlines for my first-time flight (not Eastern Airlines as I incorrectly stated). I think it must have been the Boeing 737 since it was quite a substantial jet, not a small commuter jet or turbo-prop. There is a chance that it might have been the very jet shown in your picture (I wonder how many 737's were in the EPA fleet around 1976/1977?).

[Keith P.]

I flew for the first time on EPA in 1981 from Halifax to Fredericton and it was on a twin engine prop plane, so their fleet wasn't entirely 737s.

[ghYHZ]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I flew for the first time on EPA in 1981 from Halifax to Fredericton and it was on a twin engine prop plane, so their fleet wasn't entirely 737s.

Yes, as I said in the above post, EPA added HS748s for the short commuter runs such as YHZ-YFC. The ‘748 operation eventually became an EPA subsidiary “Air Maritime”

[Hali87]

According to Skytrax, YHZ ranks #7 overall in North America (beating out SEA, DFW AND JFK) and #3 worldwide for its size (beating Adelaide, among others).

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Hali87

According to Skytrax, YHZ ranks #7 overall in North America (beating out SEA, DFW AND JFK) and #3 worldwide for its size (beating Adelaide, among others).

Yes, but that's based on surveying travelers. I'd warrant that most people departing from, or passing through Halifax aren't comparing it to those other airports. In their minds, they're comparing it to Moncton, Charlottetown, St. John's, etc. I think if it were to be judged by experienced industry analysts, the results would still be good, but not AS good.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Yes, but that's based on surveying travelers. I'd warrant that most people departing from, or passing through Halifax aren't comparing it to those other airports. In their minds, they're comparing it to Moncton, Charlottetown, St. John's, etc. I think if it were to be judged by experienced industry analysts, the results would still be good, but not AS good.

I doubt that that many people passing through Halifax are comparing it to Moncton, Charlettetown, or St. John's. Of these three, I've only ever been to the St. John's airport (which is actually quite nice). If anything, I'd guess that as many (or likely more) people are comparing it to Pearson and other Ontario airports such as Hamilton's. And based on the logic of this thread, if a large segment of survey respondents were connecting from places like Moncton then their satisfaction rate would probably be lower because the airport isn't very conveniently laid out for these passengers (assuming that these are the types of flights that arrive/depart at the fringes of the airport and don't have proper gates).

[Peter Spurway]

Originally Posted by hfx_chris

Isn't there another tunnel just behind the stop, to the right of the photo?

Peter Spurway from HIAA here. Yes, the bus stop was placed to be equi-distant from the south and central tunnels that provide access to the terminal. And we've been chasing Metro Transit for a while about them installing a larger shelter.

[Peter Spurway]

Originally Posted by pblaauw

It looks great, but I wish they'd do something with the old control tower.

The old tower and those upper parts of the building will be clad to integrate them with the rest of the building.

[macgregor]

Does anybody know what the plan with the fenced off area to the south of the new Alt Hotel? Is this being saved for the future office?

[hfx_chris]

Originally Posted by Peter Spurway

Peter Spurway from HIAA here. Yes, the bus stop was placed to be equi-distant from the south and central tunnels that provide access to the terminal. And we've been chasing Metro Transit for a while about them installing a larger shelter.

Thanks for the info Peter!

Originally Posted by Peter Spurway

The old tower and those upper parts of the building will be clad to integrate them with the rest of the building.

I know they have an observation area, and I know those older style tower cabs aren't the biggest (and access is sometimes difficult), but I would love to see it opened as some sort of observation area...then again I am a bit of a geek when it comes to airport infrastructure, air traffic control and communications...