Originally Posted by
Symmetre
It's pretty clear you've never been to Hamilton. Even low traffic European LCC imports like Hahn are served by decent to very good public transportation feeds. Not so for smaller Canadian airports, which enjoy at best poor service or, more typically, none whatsoever.
Beyond that, YHM has no connecting traffic. So how many people plan their annual vacation to .... Hamilton? If they're actually headed to Toronto, it will take them half a day to get there, and cost the equivalent of whatever they might have saved in air fare.
The comparison is simply not valid.
You've clearly never flown to Hahn--I have. It's a LONG way west of the city it purports to serve (it's called "Frankfurt Hahn" with a wink) and it takes a bus ride of more than TWO HOURS to get there. If that's your idea of very good public transportation, I'd hate to see what you consider poor.
Second, budget airports do not operate on a feeder model but rather point-to-point at affordable fares. The "inconvenience" of traveling to and from an out-of-the-way airport is compensated by a much lower fare than a mainline carrier operating at the main airport of a given city or region.
Third, the idea that no one will travel to Hamilton from the GTA to save on fares is belied by the fact that Toronto-area residents routinely drive right past Hamilton, line up and cross the U.S. border to fly from Buffalo/Niagara to save money. Your point that it will take someone "half a day" to get to or from Hamilton airport from Metro Toronto is meaningless given the fact that Buffalo/Niagara is even farther, plus passengers must undergo the hassle and time of waiting and being inspected at the U.S. border (not to mention doing the process in reverse when coming back into Canada), before the lengthy bus or car ride back to Toronto...and yet thousands of GTA residents do it for cheaper airfares.