Pickering airports urgent timeline

A new proposed timeline for Pickering airport pushes another five years beyond a hoped-for 2028 opening.  What is going on and why are we delaying a badly needed piece of infrastructure? The time line, purposed by AECOM at a recent planning and information session in Durham region, pushed the opening date for Pickering’s new airport […]

The Building Enthusiasm for Pickering Airport

Why should anyone be enthusiastic about building a new airport?  After all, it’s just a slab of concrete in the middle of a field. No big deal, right? On April 30, 2018, in Durham region, a discussion group of urban planners, business executives and aviation experts laid out how big a deal a new airport really […]

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 […]

Solving Torontos Jet noise problem

It’s been more than a year since federal Transportation Minister, the Honourable Marc Garneau, received the plea From Toronto’s mayor, John Tory , to please do something about the noise. The noise the Mayor of Toronto is referring to is the increasing noise created by the congestion of jets landing at Toronto Pearson International airport. […]

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 […]