Hamilton Airport is planning to expand in the coming years, and hopes to attract some US-bound/incoming traffic, according to a report in this morning's Toronto Star. Operated by TradePort International, which in turn is partly owned by the folks who own YVR and the Laborers' International Union of NAmerica [sorry about that, FlyerAl], plans call for investing $22m in a new passenger terminal which would be 10-times the size of the current one. $13 million has already been spent upgrading the current terminal facility to handle the arrival and increased traffic generated by WestJet.

The company forecasts significant passenger growth over the next five years, moving from the current 553K passengers to five million. [For comparison, YYZ handled 28 million passengers in 2001.]

WestJet plans call for increasing service to more cities in central and eastern Canada from this hub, capitalizing on the 2+ million population base that lies west of Oakville, east to Niagara Falls, and northward to London.