innsertnamehere
Superstar
Sunwing does seasonal flights out of YHM still I believe - but yes, since WestJest wound down Swoop, the airport has been much quieter.
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Hamilton International Airport
- Thread starter Branden Simon
- Start date
PL1
Active Member
WestJet owns Sunwing now. I thought they were going to merge the brands, but I don't have time to verify that right now
Thank you @KingJames below!
Thank you @KingJames below!
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KingJames
Active Member
They delayed the brand merge by at least six months.
Dan416
Senior Member
If Hamilton can’t survive, how do people think Pickering would if built?
Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
My analysis on Hamilton is this:
1) Being on the West GTA side Hamilton struggles with the gravity draw of Pearson. Many people simply default to YYZ even if there were a flight out of Hamilton.
2) The airport is kind of far/hard to get to for Hamilton residents. I've always heard that the journey up the mountain was a bit of a bear. With YYZ just a QEW/401 trip away
3) For those that are looking for a Pearson alternative (especially on cost). Buffalo-Niagara international is just about an hour drive away and has access to more flights and much cheaper
4) The entire SW Ontario region airports are cannibalizing each other. Between Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, and London, there's enough total passengers for a mid size Canadian international airport (~1.5 million passengers). However the passengers are split three ways and no one airport is able to become a true secondary GTA airport
Pickering airport wouldn't have any of this:
- The gravity draw of Pearson is less in the East end than in the West. I can see people in the East end choosing Pickering over Pearson just to avoid the trip across the GTA.
- The population base is quite close, and access would be easy with the 407/412/401.
- No large US airport to compete with
- The nearest GTA East airport is Kingston 200 Km away (which doesn't even get scheduled service IIRC)
I've suggested in the past that Hamilton, Kitchener and London consolidate into one airport as a means to remain competitive. However the question would be which airport close and which remains open
Sunnyside
Active Member
Do you have insights into the freight side of things? Its my understanding Hamilton does quite a bit better than it’s peers in this regard.
I would maybe say you could close all 3 airports and locate one in the middle of the three cities, but there isn’t really a good spot.
YHM might be more appealing with a Mid-Pen freeway, but that’s a very big “might”. I think it’s got a good groove as a cargo airport right now, and seems to be doing better than Waterloo in terms of serving the GTHA and not just the immediate area.
KingJames
Active Member
YHM is the 5th largest freight airport in Canada (so says my friend in Chat GPT). I don't think it is moving anywhere. Also don't think on an environmental front, there would be any interest in finding a new common ground for an airport that would serve a KW Cambridge \ Guelph / Hamilton market (and still serve the Niagara corridor). London is too far out, maybe 1.5 hours out from YHM, can be on its own, and does okay (heck even has flights to YYZ).
If there was a thought that government would get involved, one might suspect that some non-Canadian airlines could be directed to YHM from YYZ T2.
Also maybe we could put the stake into the idea of a Pickering Airport by having the feds release lands for housing once and for all.
If there was a thought that government would get involved, one might suspect that some non-Canadian airlines could be directed to YHM from YYZ T2.
Also maybe we could put the stake into the idea of a Pickering Airport by having the feds release lands for housing once and for all.
SubHuman
Active Member
Like Mirabel? That did not work out well.
Montréal–Mirabel International Airport - Wikipedia
Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
I'm not a massive Pickering supporter, however, Pickering faced backlash because the proposed site was on prime farmland. Now we're going to pave over that farmland for suburban sprawl? Seems backwards.
KingJames
Active Member
Agree that Mirabel was a disaster and giant waste of taxpayer's money. Would be interested in understanding how many international customers use YYZ to use as a connector to other points in Canada vs those that are just exiting at YYZ into Southern Ontario.
YYZ needs to spread the love on customer volumes.
YYZ needs to spread the love on customer volumes.
Jonny5
Senior Member
I would like to know this, as I seem to recall hearing from somewhere a long time ago (20+ years) that Hamilton airport was much more favourable to night time landings because Pearson restricted (though didn't ban) flights landing after midnight to the early morning because of the noise, but Hamilton did not have that issue and could operate at the same capacity 24/7 and that made Hamilton the favourable option for shipping companies who generally operate in the middle of the night and have to move around goods to logistics hubs outside of rush hour to save money.
Then this only increased in importance with the rise of Amazon and other delivery companies where global freight exploded.
But I'm curious if that's still true, or ever was true, or was apocryphal.
6ixGod
New Member
Hamilton passenger volumes are quite respectable for an airport that is more interested in handling cargo.
I don’t think its location is a problem, I think the lack of facilities is. A new passenger terminal and some better public transport options to the airport would do it wonders I think. Hamilton LRT? GO?
Honestly they should re-brand back to Toronto-Hamilton Int’l Airport….lol. I’m sure that’ll go over well.
Hamilton International Airport released its 2023 year in review
I don’t think its location is a problem, I think the lack of facilities is. A new passenger terminal and some better public transport options to the airport would do it wonders I think. Hamilton LRT? GO?
Honestly they should re-brand back to Toronto-Hamilton Int’l Airport….lol. I’m sure that’ll go over well.
Hamilton International Airport released its 2023 year in review
turbanplanner
Senior Member
Honestly even a proper shuttle from Aldershot would be nice, I feel most travelers are cost conscious, and a $40-60 uber x ride kills any saving
innsertnamehere
Superstar
More transit services were starting to make sense when Swoop was around.. today, the airport has a small handful of daily departures, if any at all.. a frequent shuttle doesn’t really make sense.
Those 2023 passenger numbers will be completely decimated for 2024. Swoop was supporting the airport and with it gone so are the passengers.
Those 2023 passenger numbers will be completely decimated for 2024. Swoop was supporting the airport and with it gone so are the passengers.
turbanplanner
Senior Member
Yeah fair point! I should have said in conjunction with any new major airline launches. Even in the swoop days it only made sense for me to use them if I shared an uber with some friends on a trip.