Ontario airports must accommodate traffic growth, study says

Theglobeandmail.com
May 9, 2017
By Greg Keenan

Southern Ontario risks losing out on a $15-billion stimulus to the province’s gross domestic product if airports fail to co-ordinate their development to take advantage of a massive increase in airline-passenger traffic by mid-century.

That’s one conclusion of a study done for the Southern Ontario Airport Network, which represents airports from Kingston to Windsor and is trying to make sure the region captures all the economic benefit from the jump in passenger travel.

“By the late 2030s, regional air-travel demand is likely to outpace the current capacity of the region’s airports, making it more and more difficult to accommodate the needs of passengers and aviation stakeholders,” the study says. “If nothing changes, by the mid-2040s there could be an excess passenger demand of around 20 million passengers per year. These passengers could face crowded and congested facilities in Southern Ontario, or may even leave the region to have their travel needs met.”

The new study coincides with the official launch of the Southern Ontario Airport Network and forecasts a bigger increase in passenger traffic than a study done in 2015.

The number of airline passengers travelling through the region could reach as high as 110 million by 2043, compared with a forecast of 90 million in the earlier study. That compares with 49 million passengers who travelled through Pearson International Airport in Toronto and regional airports last year.

Passengers and airlines are already finding out that the existing infrastructure is taxed amid delays caused by maintenance work on the longest and busiest of Pearson’s five runways. Passengers have missed connections and sat through delays flying into and out of Pearson.

Howard Eng, chief executive officer of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, sent out a public apology last week, noting that poor weather in April aggravated the impact of the runway shutdown, which the airport and airlines have been preparing to work around for 18 months.

Cam Kenyon, executive vice-president of operations for WestJet Airlines Ltd. also apologized to customers last week.

Both he and Mr. Eng said the construction project is scheduled to be complete and the runway set to reopen by May 16.

The Southern Ontario Airport Network study said other large urban areas such as New York, Paris and London have diversified the services offered by several airports so that capacity meets the needs of regions as a whole.

“These regions rely on a network of regional airports to meet a range of air-travel services that cannot all be accommodated at one airport alone,” the study said.

Airports in Hamilton, London, Ont., Kitchener and Waterloo all have room to expand their capabilities to handle scheduled and charter service, it said, as one example of how the projected growth in passenger traffic can be accommodated.

Better use of such airports could support the growth of ultralow-cost carriers, the report added, some of which are in their startup phases in Canada as the federal government tries to encourage more competition.