YYZ T1 Gate and Terminal Capacity Issues.
 

On October 23, 2013 AC and GTAA signed a comprehensive commercial agreement covering operations at T1. The commercial agreement covered a number of areas including fees paid by AC to GTAA, commitment to enhance customer facilities, and commitment that GTAA give AC a multi-year gate plan that kept pace with AC growth plans and ensured AC growth is not constrained by T1 facilities.

As AC FTers that frequent YYZ know, with the expansion of mainline international flights plus the introduction of Rouge, gate and terminal space is at or nearing capacity. Plus there are over capacity issues at the Customs Halls and pre-board security checkpoints.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, yesterday Sunwing announced it is moving from T1 to T3 effective May 1 , 2016. Here is the press release:

http://www.marketwired.com/press-rel...rt-2109118.htm

While relocating Sunwing doesn't sound like a big deal for AC pax, this does address gate constraints in the short term.

The longer term, moving Sunwing from T1 to T3 signals a major shift in the GTAA master plan, with AC and T1 pax being the major beneficiaries of the major shift. The 2004 master plan contemplates that as T3 fills up, airlines would have moved over to T1 and the infield terminal reactivated with the busing operation that has been shuttered for about 10 years. Based on the GTAA master plan and the traffic increase at T3, I expected at some point that Air Transat would relocate to T1 with the Infield Terminal becoming a charter terminal. This would have negatively impacted AC pax at the Canada Customs Hall and the Pre-board Security Checkpoint.It also introduced the possibility that Ac or other Star Alliance flights would be gated at the Infield Terminal.

Looking at the past winter season, I predict that T3 will have both gate and terminal facility capacity constraints. The major players at T3 will either have to move flight operations outside of peak times or accept a move over to the Infield terminal.

The loser in this airline terminal shuffle is clearly WS. Their YYZ terminal just got a bunch busier, and if they don't sign a similar comprehensive commercial agreement with the GTAA, WS flights could be spread out further to the main terminal, T3 Satelite and the Infield Terminal gates.

This is great news, both for AC as well as other *A carriers. I'm a big fan of keeping T1 as an exclusive *A terminal - it's something I wish would be replicated at more airports, especially in the USA.

Just to clarify, the infield terminal has been quite busy the last few years - mind you, not with RapidAir flights, but it's used on average every 1-2 weeks for passenger flights, as well as a cargo plane stand.

Mind you, there are 2-3 aircraft that are almost permanent fixtures around it at gates, of which at least one of them can't fly, and one is a 40-year old former passenger plane that has been converted to a cargo hauler. It does look like it's been shuttered, but I was surprised to find out how active it and the bussing operation still is.

Most recently, it was the terminal used for the Syrian refugee arrivals, as their Welcome to Canada disembarkation point.

The last master plan had another pier being built by now, with a couple of more down the road. Any idea when pier G will get started?

Thanks for the detailed and insightful post, WR Cage.

Glad to see AC being proactive on this. Getting on a bus to the infield terminal would be a major knock against connecting through YYZ, or even flying AC, for me.

It looks like the next big project may be swapping Transborder Immigration/Customs and Security, according to the 2014 AR:

Really interesting to read the master plan, hadn't done that till now. Looks like the original plan anticipated Pier G would be 2014, Pier H would be 2020, Pier I was going to be reviewed, due to the incredible walking distance. Pier G would also mean removing the remote stand for F though... decreasing the TB capacity during construction.

Pier H was actually meant to bring some T3 carriers back to T1, when T3 reaches capacity.

http://i68.tinypic.com/335bcpx.png

http://i65.tinypic.com/5n4ot1.png

However, now it looks like it won't be until past 2019, based on their 2014 Annual Report that highlighted the current work under way:

The cost of the new pier is around 250 million according to a GTAA employee, and additionally they would like to build a link between T1 and T3... airside. However, that would remove some of the remote parking between the terminals, which they're using to avoid Tier G.

I've been wondering when pier G would be built too. I found it surprising that they went back to the horrible IFT and the T3 B Expansion gates instead of going ahead with Pier G considering it was part of their master plan to have it built by now.

I don't see how West Jet is a loser with this change. It is more likely to gain because it will continue to serve the airlines who are in T3. The departure of Sun Wing has minimal benefit for Ac for the simple reason that Sun Wing's arrivals and departures are at off peak hours. Who knows if Sun Wing will even be around in a couple years. The same for Air Transat.

AC's big issue is the long distances to be covered, between connecting flights. The trek to E from a domestic arrival is one of the worst in the *A network.The long walk to customs & immigration every time I arrive is obnoxious.

What Ac has done and I believe it to be prudent,is to build up its regional hubs by transferring the emphasis on some routes to YVR and YUL.

It seems like its long past time they start working on G, no?

at > 40M pax a year, that's a ton of "AIF"'s being overcharged and they should easily be able to afford construction (even though I doubt it'll be 250M, more like a billion).

I don't see the point of building an airside link between 1 and 3, as long as star is all in 1, the 1-3 airside link would be a waste of money, and if its airside, what is it? US-US? CAN-CAN?

That's almost finished actually. They are building a new security area in place of check-in aisles 9-11. Not sure what will happen to the existing checkpoint area

Excellent point. I did some research into YEG when they boosted their AIF and there is simply no relationship between AIFs and capital spending by the airport authority.

What about the US? I have also looked at EWR, and its governance is weak at best. Any models? SFO?

Also noticed that Jet Airways has moved to T-3 concurrent with the shifting/closure of their scissors hub from BRU>AMS effective March 26th, also the day on which Brussels Airlines was to have launched their inaugural BRU>YYZ
service - delayed until at least the first week of April.

I think airports in general tend to be a cash grab, and are likely corrupt. People pay the fees and don't really notice in the fine print because on a $1000 ticket they don't add up to much but they are far higher than they should/need to be. And then the airports turn around and spend it on projects that are overpriced, and who knows what is going on in the background.

Its all "other people's money", so sure, build that expensive terminal with ceilings twice as high as they need to be. (and don't forget you have to heat/cool that bigger volume of air!). I think they'd do better to build the new terminal in a style that's "simpler" and cleaner like YOW, that kind of design should be cheaper to build and maintain than the gigantic halls of YYZ.

I cannot agree more. They act like little fiefdoms with no oversight.

I don't want to see Soviet era airports, but something in the middle would be reasonable.

AC has been complaining about Sunwing and its operation at T1 for a long time - mostly due to the latters inconsistency when it comes to arrival/departure time and associated aircraft movements on/off the gates.

As of May 1, this becomes WestJet's problem to deal with. Gating will become an issue with Sunwing's early morning departures displacing WestJet's head starts until they leave.

Actually, T1 still won't be an exclusive *A terminal, even after WG moves out. While EK and ET don't have too many flights among them, they are present.