Will the GTAA be hurt when Pickering airport opens?

The GTAA ( Greater Toronto Airports Authority) runs only one airport, Canada’s busiest, Toronto Pearson International airport. Pearson is the only jet airport inside Torontos passenger catchment area, and according to Standard & Poors credit rating service, it is a monopoly providing essential travel services to 17% of Canadas population. One in six Canadians must […]

Is creeping risk the new normal for congested Pearson Airport?

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) has a big problem. Pearson International airport, the only airport the GTAA operates, is expected to reach its maximum safe mixed aircraft capacity of 520,000 aircraft movements a year (as stated in its 2008 master plan) in about 6 years at its current 2% annual growth rate. The GTAA answer […]

Is Pearson airport reducing safety to increase capacity?

In 2001 an American Airlines Airbus A300, Flight 587, departed New York’s John F. Kennedy International airport 1 minute 30 seconds behind a Boeing 747. It encountered the 747s wake turbulence and crashed. All 260 people onboard and 5 people on the ground died. Wake turbulence is extremely rough air created by jet powered aircraft. […]

Are Pickering insiders setting up a multi-million dollar tax payer funded windfall?

  The federal airport lands in Pickering, a billion dollar public land reserve just east of Toronto, are owned by the Canadian tax payer. For years It has been leased out on short term one year leases to commercial and tenant farmers. But now, there is a possibility, thanks to either a deliberate or unintentional […]

Is building Pickering better than building a sixth runway at Pearson ?

Should Pearson build a sixth runway, or is it better for regional capacity to instead build Pickering airport?  Today Pearson airport has five runways but can only use two of them for landings at once. This is due to their close proximity to each other and Transport Canada safety standards. The GTAA ,which runs only […]

Managed congestion- the GTAA’s answer to its capacity problem.

The GTAA’s new master plan increased its maximum capacity by 20% without building any significant improvement to its airside infrastructure. How is it achieving this magical increase?  During a 5 minute discussion after a public meeting on December 6th,  Michael Belanger, GTAA director of “Aviation Programs & Compliance”, explained it by using Heathrow as an […]