I compiled the aircraft movement numbers for 2022/2023 for all 42 airports with NavCan control towers in Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...orts_in_Canada
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominion301
That’s quite the movements drop for those 3 airports. Commercial movements had to have been up at YQB and YOW and were probably down slightly at YTZ, which makes the VFR drop at YOW & YQB even more pronounced. I wonder why? In the case of YOW, it might be partially explained by the alternative airfields nearby for general aviation - YRP - Carp, YRO - Rockcliffe and YND - Gatineau. YND has a FSS, and I checked and movements in 2023 were +3,557 vs 2022.
With YOO up 19% it’s evident where all the Buttonville movements went to. Some probably also went to the privately owned Brampton air strip. Surprised none shifted to YTZ.
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YND is becoming very busy. NavCan might open a control tower at the airport. It's currently only an FSS and handled over 57,000 movements in 2023. That's busier than over a dozen airports with control towers in the country, including some big name airports like YHZ, YMX, YHM, YZF and YQR. However, it is worth mentioning that the usual caveat still applies here, in that FSS numbers include overflights, whereas control tower numbers do not. Don't know how StatsCan is dealing with this now, so that is why my list on wiki only includes NavCan airports with control towers.
Level of service study for YND is currently in progress.
https://www.navcanada.ca/en/air-traf...-gatineau.aspx
As for Buttonville, I'm not surprised about the GA pilots not moving over to YTZ. If you lived around YKZ, then City-Centre is not convenient at all. It also might not have that much additional space for aircraft parking, and the airport fees at YTZ must be astronomical compared to a place like YOO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by samuelx88
I think it is caused by the removal of all South flights from YQB by AC this winter
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No.
AC’s winter seasonal sun flights out of YQB were negligible in terms of additional movements.
The reduction in movements from 2022>2023 was 16,720 movements. AC's flights to sun routes (
FLL, CUN, PUJ and MCO), based on the source linked, was 18 flights a week (at peak), for ~4 months out of the year. That's less than 300 arrivals/departures. That's it. So clearly not the main reason.