Eternity000

I'm flying porter tonight for the 1st time in awhile (strange business meeting that brings me to Timmins) and it had me thinking that for all the Toronto based flyers this is a nice airport. So why doesn't AC expand here outside of its YUL-YTZ route. Seems to me that flights to YOW would sell well.

ChrisA330

YTZ is slot controlled and there are no available slots for AC to take.

Wallace99

I would love a YOW flight but it is the slot issue as the other poster mentioned.
I have done YTZ-YUL-YOW several times when I know I would arrive/depart toronto during rush hour. It's actually faster than fighting traffic from the beaches.

Eternity000

Ah I see. Too bad there isn't more room for expansion. Seems like it has so much potential!

rehoult

That is does, not unlike LHR. But the NIMBYs living on the island will do anything they can to stop it, also not unlike LHR.

canadiancow

I'm surprised they have such frequent flights to YTZ. The last time I booked one, 7 days in advance, it only had about 5 seats selected (yeah yeah I know...). I booked another today for April, and aside from the back row being blocked, none of the seats had been selected.

Do they usually fill up? I seem to recall my last flight being fairly full, but I'd think they'd have better luck replacing some YUL flights with YOW flights.

Wallace99

The expansion of YTZ won't do anything for slots initially (so they say). It will just allow larger planes to use current slots.

My neighbourhood is fairly active on this, most see it as a positive it's honestly very few that are against it here.

Shareholder

What neighbourhood is that? And it's not just people living on the island. In fact they hardly hear the planes. It's the tens of thousands now living along the lake shore and around Ft. York, and the noise from the Q400s is only part of the complaints. Traffic is absurdly bottlenecked by the hundreds of cabs every hour that pour through the neighbourhood.

This summer a few of us FTers sat out on the terrace of the new Amsterdam Brewpub on the lake and watched/listened to the flights across the way at the airport. And those Q400s are noisy when they rev up for take off, or trim down after landing. Ironically, the CSeries pure jets will actually be quieter than what's flying now. At the same time, we noted that extending the runways would make a significant dent in the waterway on both sides, but particularly into the inner harbour.

As for AC flights, I've flown them a few times and never had more than a 1/3rd load. AC's just keeping this service alive to hold onto its slots. I think it would actually do better to fly to YOW rather than YUL.

krayZpaving

I've flown YTZ-YUL regularly. Even in the consultant shuttles (Monday morning and Thursday evening), you rarely see >50% load. I've been on flights with fewer than 5 pax on board.

rankourabu

It could have something to do with the fact that AC abandoned YTZ a long time ago, and only came back after Porter established themselves successfully there.

CloudsBelow

I thought CO were awarded 4 pairs of slots and were going to start EWR service on Q400? What ever happened to them?
I've never been to YTZ - Is there room for a pre-clear facility there? I know USA/Airlines won't bear the full cost but wonder if the airlines/YTZ would chip in some money to get it done?
I would imagine YTZ-DCA, LGA could command a premium over YYZ if it had a pre-clear

Wallace99

No pre clearance, doubt it will happen, too small of an airport.

Wallace99

We are in the beaches, so east of downtown about 500 meteres from the lake just north of queen. This is also an area that votes very left, NDP or liberals country.

winnipegrev

Not exactly. AC was evicted from the airport when the only passenger terminal was bought up from under them by Porter who refused to lease to AC. No choice but to leave the island.

They were down to 4/5 flights to YOW, so I'd say AC didn't have any interest in making a second Toronto airport work until the new competition started draining business. Now that AC wants more slots I don't think the TPA, being a public entity allocating slots for a public airport, should be swayed by ACs past decisions which were harmful to the airport.

Shareholder

It's called The Beach, and totally unaffected by the flight paths as you're safeguarded by flight height and noise restrictions. Ironically, your district is so sensitive to development in its own neighbourhood that residents are trying to stop a low rise condo on Queen East. Home of champagne socialists in a very protected realm which is why apparently nobody out there cares much about those who reside near the island airport.