Pickering Airport Lands
Template:POV-title
Pickering Airport | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Serves | Greater Toronto Area | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Pickering, Ontario | ||||||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||||||
  Pickering Airport Approximate location in Ontario | |||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
Sources: Transport Canada[2] | |||||||||||||||||||
Pickering Airport is a proposed international airport to be built directly north-east of Toronto in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, approximately 65 km (40 mi) east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. Intended to serve the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe, it would be and operated by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA). In 2004, the estimated cost of building the airport was reported to be approximately $2 billion. It was anticipated at the time that, by 2032, the airport would be handling up to 11.9 million passengers annually.[3]
The Government of Canada’s plans for the airport were developed during the late 1960s and early 1970s. A large tract of land in Pickering, Uxbridge, and Markham townships was expropriated for the airport in 1972-1973. Opposition to the project was widespread. Preliminary airport construction activity was halted in 1975 when the provincial partner in the enterprise, the Government of Ontario, declared it would not build the roads or sewers needed to service the site.
In 2010, the GTAA completed a Pickering Airport "Needs Assessment Study" commissioned by the federal government. The study’s report recommended that the federal government retain the Pickering lands, “thereby preserving the option of building an airport, if and when required.”[4] The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association, an association of private plane owners and pilots, took exception to the methodology and conclusions of the study, arguing that "the process to implement a new airport at Pickering should be well underway right now."[5] Transport Action Ontario, in its own response to the study report, questioned some of the study’s claims and suggested that, in lieu of building a new airport, “higher-speed, electrified rail” would be a “far superior alternative" for much of the short-haul traffic currently handled by Toronto Pearson International.[6]
In an announcement in June, 2013, the federal government reaffirmed its intention to hold land on the site for a future airport, stating that the needs assessment study’s conclusion was that the airport would be needed within the 2027-2037 time-frame.[7]
History
Background
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.[8] A similar major land expropriation took place north of Montreal for the failed 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 (ICAO: 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.
- Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (ICAO: CYTZ) - is limited to propeller planes - Porter Airlines and Air Canada Express fly out of CYTZ.
- Toronto Buttonville Municipal Airport (ICAO: CYKZ) - is also limited to smaller commuter aircraft and 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.[9] The airport is slated to close by 2014-2015.[10]
- Hamilton John C. Munro International Airport (ICAO: 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.
A decision to proceed with planning and construction was made on June 11, 2013.[11]
Controversy
Critics have pointed to the expansion being undertaken at Toronto Pearson International Airport, charging that the current Pearson project is overzealous and lessens any need for the new Pickering Airport. The GTAA has 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.[12]
There is significant community opposition to the Pickering airport again, including Land Over Landings.[13] There is a sense of strong community rally in support for the Markham airport within the general aviation community, since the construction of the Pickering Airport being located next to an existing airport (Markham CNU8) and as stated in the Aeronautical Act cannot be built within a 5 nautical mile radius of an existing airport (Markham). This obviously would not lead to an automatic cause for closure of the Markham Airport, which has been around since 1965 and is currently looking to expand to a 6,000 ft runway and take-on the new role of private aviation airport since the closure of Buttonville Airport was caused due to the land being sold for development to the Fairview Cadillac group.
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."[14]
Federal approval
In June 2013, the federal government announced its future plans for the Pickering airport lands. The Government of Canada will set aside an area in the south-east of about 3,500 hectares (8,700 acres) for a future airport, indicating it will be needed in the 2027-2037 timeframe. [15] [16] About 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) in York Region are being transferred to the Rouge Park as part of the Rouge National Urban Park study area.[17] The remaining approximately 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) is earmarked for economic development.
Location
The remnants of the hamlet of Altona and of the village of Brougham are situated entirely within the expropriated area. In preparation for the anticipated airport, a significant fifteenth century Huron ancestral village (the Draper Site) was completely excavated in 1975 and 1978. The future airport site, as proposed in June 2013, would be located in the north-central area of Pickering. The currently zoned airport landing approach surfaces will spill over into Markham, Stouffville, Uxbridge, Ajax and Whitby. The closest large communities are Claremont (an exurban village of around 2800 residents located northeast of the airport lands in Pickering), Stouffville and Markham.
See also
Notes
- ^ Runway 10L/28R & 15/33 proposed for 2012. Runway 10R/28L proposed for 2032. Data obtained from "Pickering Airport Draft Plan Report" 3MB PDF or 12MB PDF
- ^ Pckering Airport Site Zoning Regulations
- ^ Cf. Transport Canada, Plan Showing Pickering Airport Site; also Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Pickering Airport Draft Plan Report, 6.3. By comparison, Toronto Pearson International Airport had 32.3 million passengers in 2008, with an average of 1,179 "aircraft movements" per day (GTTA, Toronto Pearson Fast Facts; and Pickering Airport Site Zoning Regulations, September 30, 2004.
- ^ GTAA. "Needs Assessment Study: Pickering Lands, Final Report" (2010), ch. 12, p. 9.
- ^ Canadian Owners and Pilots Association, Review of the GTAA "Needs Assessment Study--Pickering Lands" (2011), 4.4, p. 52.
- ^ Transport Action Ontario, "Response to: Transport Canada Needs Assessment Study – Pickering Lands" (February 2014), p.2.
- ^ Cf. Transport Canada, Press Release, June 11, 2013.
- ^ Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Pickering Airport Draft Plan Report, 1.4.
- ^ Buttonville airport risks closing
- ^ New ‘town’ to replace Buttonville Airport
- ^ Transport Canada, Press Release, June 11, 2013;
- ^ Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Pickering Airport Draft Plan Report, 1.3.
- ^ Land Over Landings
- ^ Canadian Owners and Pilots Association, Review of the GTAA "Needs Assessment Study--Pickering Lands" (2011), 4.4, p. 52.
- ^ Transport Canada, Press Release, June 11, 2013;
- ^ Oved, Marco Chown (2013-06-11). "Pickering airport announcement blindsides province and locals". Toronto Star.
- ^ Curry, Bill (2013-06-11). "Ottawa pledges new GTA airport, expanded national park". The Globe and Mail.
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
- 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