Pickering Airport (Transport Canada/GTAA, Proposed)

[jje1000]

Would definitely be nice to have another airport built on the other end of the city. Maybe it'll bring down demand and possibily prices at Pearson.

 

[rbt]

Would definitely be nice to have another airport built on the other end of the city. Maybe it'll bring down demand and possibily prices at Pearson.

Quite the opposite as far as actual airport related fees go. Building more infrastructure without a very large increase in the usage can only raise prices.

Most airport authorities operate as not-for-profits.

Best way to lower prices at Pearson is essentially what they have been doing over the last few years; handling more and more people/flights in the same space by through better use of existing resources.

 

[ShonTron]

Probably something for rouge park, considering the minister of parks and forestry will be there.

Too far north for anything related to the Pickering airport.

I hope so, but Claremont is just north of the Pickering Airport lands. The GTAA closed the Brougham office a few years ago; Brougham is quickly becoming a ghost town thanks to Transport Canada's hastened evictions in the airport lands.

 

[ShonTron]

Mirabel II is back from the dead:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...airport-on-pickering-lands-flaherty-confirms/

 

[someMidTowner]

Are we going to even factor in Montreal's mistakes when building this thing? Will there be a proper set of roads and transport links laid in advance of the airport's opening? Are we going to see the same red tape Mirabel saw in determining which flights land where? I have so many questions, doubts and concerns and that article didn't do much to satisfy any of them.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Hmm, are the feds going to pay up for a rail link?

AoD

 

[innsertnamehere]

I'm guessing the rail link would come from a new GO line on the current freight corridor to Peterborough?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Mirabel II is back from the dead:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...airport-on-pickering-lands-flaherty-confirms/

In today's Star too http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/06/11/pickering_airport_finally_going_ahead.html

With YHM, YTO and YYZ and our near adoption of BUF, you'd think we had enough airports in the GTA.

 

[Swarez99]

Maybe I am just jaded, but me thinks this is more political than based on need/merit.

 

[supercilious]

Didnt Transit Canada do a needs assessment last year?

If I recall, it said that the GTA needed another international airport by 2025(ish) in order to keep up with demand

 

[diminutive]

I'm of two minds on this.

On one hand, having recently had to spend more time in Durham region, I can appreciate why an airport there would be a welcome alternative to Pearson. If you add up Durham region, Markham, and Scarborough you probably have a fairly decent sized passenger-shed which could justify some regional flights.

I'm more sceptical that Pearson needs some kind of relief airport. Given the terminal expansions and amount of runways they have, I don't understand why the GTAA feels it's going to run out of space. These claims seem like either gross optimism about future air traffic growth or empire building by the GTAA. Pearson isn't even fully built out!

Partially it depends on exactly what is planned for Pickering. A small-ish, regional airport need not be a Mirabel scale endeavour. Something on the scale of what exists at YTZ now but with a larger runway could be appropriate. But given how remote the area is, the project would need several major highway expansions and possible a (relatively) high speed link downtown, which would definitely drive up costs.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Wow that is big news. I have a question though will this be a full fledged international airport from the start or will it begin as a GA airport (replacing buttonville), which is needed and grow into an international airport as needed??? Does anyone have the maps that supposedly were release at the press release?

 

[DSC]

This - from Star - would not seem to be helpful - if one actually wants an airport:


"After the announcement, Murray returned to Queen’s Park and said he was blindsided by Flaherty’s announcement.


“We’ve had no prior discussion, no negotiation with our Transportation or the Infrastructure Ministry,” he told the Star on Tuesday.


Murray said he had just finished thanking Flaherty publicly at an event to promote the Rouge River national park when the airport bombshell landed.


“They announced they’re proceeding with the Pickering airport in some fashion without great clarity, without any heads-up, without any kind of consultation with us, which makes it hard to work together,” he said, adding Ottawa is “blindsiding” the province.


The Ontario minister said the federal tactics are not likely to ensure greater provincial co-operation on the project.

 

[ShonTron]

Since it's a Federal project under Federal authority on lands entirely owned by the Federal government, there's not a lot the province or the municipality can do directly to stop planning and construction. But since the province/municipality control the roads, transit, water/wastewater hookups, etc they can give a hard time. I might expect the City of Pickering and Town of Ajax to resist and even the province to put up some resistance, but not Durham Region which of course controls a lot of those services.

 

[andrewpmk]

An international airport in Pickering would cost tens of billions of dollars, and would create massive noise pollution problems similar to those in the western GTA near Pearson.

Pearson is well below maximum capacity anyway. If it were to get near maximum capacity, why not build high speed rail instead? HSR would cost a lot of money, but a new airport would cost a lot of money as well.