Pickering Airport

Pickering Airport Toronto Pickering International Airport
IATA: n/a – ICAO: n/a
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA)
Serves		Greater Toronto Area
Location		Pickering, Ontario
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
10L/28R	10,000	3,048	n/a
15/33	8,500	2,591	n/a
10R/28l	10,000	3,048	n/a
Sources: Transport Canada

Pickering Airport (also known as Toronto Pickering International Airport^{[citation needed]}) is a proposed international airport for the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population.. The proposed location is located in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, 50 km (31 mi) north-east of Downtown Toronto and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and 65 km (40 mi) east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. The original plans for the airport were developed during the 1970s as part of a widespread federal government plan to improve air travel across Canada. Lands were expropriated in 1972, but opposition to the expansion plan was widespread. Things came to a head when the provincial government stated it would not build the roads or sewers needed to service the site, and the plans were shelved in 1975.

Since then the idea of opening the airport has been floated several times, but the lands have remained undeveloped. During that time, the federal government has stepped out of direct operations of many Canadian airports, and the major Toronto Airports passed control to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA). The GTAA had proposed opening the Pickering site as late as November 2004, estimating that the airport would cost approximately $2 billion, and it anticipated up to 11.9 million passengers per year (or 32,600 per day) by 2032. A "Needs Assessment Study" was completed by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority for the federal government in May 2010. After a "due diligence review," Transport Canada released the report in July 2011. The positive decision will trigger an environmental assessment and a review of the costs and benefits of the GTAA's proposal.

The GTAA has assumed it will be selected as constructor and operator, initially serving general aviation but eventually including scheduled passenger service, to relieve congestion at Lester B. Pearson International Airport west of Toronto. A technical analysis of the changes proposed by the GTAA's draft plan was expected from the federal government in 2005. A public notice was published in several newspapers on September 28, 2005 outlining zoning regulations.

Site

The proposed airport would be located in the north west corner of Pickering, Ontario. Parts of the airport would spill over into Markham and Uxbridge. The closest communities are Claremont (within Pickering), a suburban village of around 2800 residents located north-east of the airport lands, and Stouffville. The small community of Altona is completely within the airport lands. In preparation for the anticipated airport, a significant fifteenth century Huron ancestral village (the Draper Site) was completely excavated in 1975 and 1978.

History

In 1972, the federal government (which then owned and operated all major Canadian airports) expropriated 7430 hectares of farmland, including some hamlets like Altona which is now a ghost town. The Pickering Airport Project was postponed due to opposition by community activists and environmentalists. However, the government did not resell the Pickering lands to its original owners, maintaining the ability to revive the project in the future. To this day, the original owners have continued to lease the land from the government. 3,051 hectares have been protected as green space in perpetuity, including a corridor of land connecting the Rouge Park with the Oak Ridges Moraine. A similar major land expropriation took place north of Montreal for the Montréal-Mirabel International Airport, which opened in 1975, the same year that the Pickering project was postponed.

Transport Canada revived plans for the Pickering Airport in 2001 and the federal government has revived the land's designation as an airport site citing a number of reasons such as:

• Toronto Pearson International Airport (CYYZ) - will be unable to indefinitely be the sole provider for the bulk of Toronto's commercial air traffic, although critics argue Hamilton John C. Munro International Airport has more than enough capacity to accommodate any future traffic.

• Toronto Billy Bishop City Airport (CYTZ) - is limited to light jets and propeller planes - Porter Airlines and Air Canada Express fly out of CYTZ.

• Toronto Buttonville Municipal Airport (CYKZ) - is also limited to smaller commuter aircraft and currently serves mostly privately based business travel. Upgrading the airport for longer runaways is unachievable because of urbanization around the airport. The GTAA is hoping this airport might be closed if Pickering is approved, and in 2009 announced the end of its $1.5 million annual subsidy to Buttonville for handling overflow general aviation traffic from Toronto Pearson.[1] The airport is slated to close by 2015.[2]

• Hamilton John C. Munro International Airport (CYHM) - is being claimed by the GTAA as too far from the city of Toronto core to be practical as a major hub for travellers.

Controversy

Green Space Preserve (Pickering Airport Lands)

Critics have pointed to the expansion being undertaken at Toronto Pearson International Airport, charging that the current Pearson project is overzealous as well as lessening any need for the new Pickering Airport. The GTAA has publicly stated that the redevelopment of Pearson was necessary and timely. The GTAA maintains that Toronto Pearson may reach its capacity of 50 million passengers in the mid-2020s.

Once again, there is significant community opposition to the airport, including the umbrella group V.O.C.A.L. (Voters Organized to Cancel the Airport Lands, www.vocalvoice.ca). There is also significant opposition to the airport within the general aviation community, since the construction of the Pickering Airport will automatically cause the closure of the Markham Airport, which is located partly on the airport lands, and will cause the closure of Buttonville Airport as well.

Only Transport Canada, or the city of Oshawa in conjunction with Transport Canada, would have the authority to order the closure of the airport, and would not happen without significant opposition from local general aviation pilots, and the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association. The GTAA's anticipation of Oshawa's closure is based on its belief that it is operationally and physically constrained and is therefore unsuitable as a Pearson reliever.

In the draft plan presented by the GTAA in 2004, mixing the displaced general aviation traffic with increased heavy passenger jet traffic also concerns many small aircraft pilots who would have no choice but to use the new airport, as larger airports tend to be less GA friendly, and more difficult for student pilot training.

The Pickering Airport could also affect the future of the Toronto Island airport and to a lesser degree, Hamilton Airport, more than 100 km to the southwest.

Plans for a Pickering airport have also received opposition from Transport 2000 Canada, who argue that a high-speed rail service in the existing Quebec City – Windsor Corridor would eliminate the need for an expensive new airport (since a large number of current and anticipated air travellers in the GTA would be served by such a service), while causing significantly less air pollution, community disruption, and loss of farmland.^{[citation needed]} Proponents of high-speed rail expansion point to its success in Europe, where services such as Intercity-Express, TGV, Thalys, and Eurostar have drastically reduced the need for some short-haul (less than 3-hour) air routes.

The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association took exception to the methodology and conclusions of the GTAA's "Needs Assessment Study-- Pickering Lands," and argued that "the process to implement a new airport at Pickering should be well underway right now."

See also

• List of airports in the Greater Toronto Area

External links

• Transport Canada, Pickering Lands Internet Site, and Pickering Airport Site Zoning Regulations
• Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Pickering Airport Draft Plan Report, 2002.
• Transport 2000 Ontario Response to GTAA Draft Plan
• V.O.C.A.L. - Voters Organized to Cancel the Airport Lands
• Land Over Landings - The Stewardship Group
• Pickering Airpark a not for profit partnership founded by key members of the buttonville aviation business community
• Airport World, Toronto area will need a new airport from 2027 onwards