New Plattsburgh airport may squeeze Montreal area hubs
 

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/st...ghairport.html

Montreal air authorities say they're keeping a close eye on competition emerging south of the border from a new international airport in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

The airport, scheduled to open June 1 complete with bilingual signs and a French website, hopes to attract Canadian travellers from Montreal and Quebec heading to U.S. destinations.

Hmm.. they've been talking about closing down PLB and opening PBG for years. It would be good to get some competition, especially if PBG can attract american LCCs like jetblue.

Plattsburgh is a cute little town, I used to drive there all the time when I lived in montreal. If there's no wait at the border, it's less than 40 minutes from montreal proper.

That's great. Flying AC to Montreal is big money. A little competion would b a very good thing.

The tagline of PBG is "Montreal's U.S. Airport." Interesting...

http://www.plattsburghinternationalairport.com

I think they may be able to grab some Canadian U.S.-bound traffic, but it remains to be seen if they can grab a significant amount to make a noticable dent in any Canadian carrier's bottom line for transborder flights. Depending on who flies there, some may drive there for international flights (and I do know some who do drive down south for flights, notably to BTV), but unless heading to Latin America, I doubt there will be any significant effect on overall numbers.

What's also important to consider is, and unless if my geography and numbers are off, there isn't a huge population base (except for YUL) within two hours of PBG. PBG would also be competing directly with BTV and maybe PHF, but access roads into PBG are not good. And there are many other small airports within the two hours of PBG on U.S. side. It may be tough for the airport to attract air carriers, let alone pax.

No matter what, PBG would have to rely on lots of Canadian traffic and incoming domestic traffic. As a U.S. domestic traveller, unless you want to be on the west side of Lake Champlain or are heading to the Adirondacks, you won't be using PBG.

What will be nice is that for those who do not already have PPTs, they can still cross the land border and drive to PBG and fly domestically within the U.S.

This would be no different to what is happening on the west coast with Bellingham Airport located between SEA and YVR. But the real noticeable difference there is that there is a sigificant population base to draw from so the airport is not relying heavily on Canadian traffic and access roads are decent from many parts of YVR and surrounding areas are good. The only problem for Canadians would be the land border crossing which is subject to bottlenecks.

For Montreal travelers with a US destination, this would avoid a lot of the cross-border and YUL airport fees. Please forgive the co-mingled currencies.

Tax: Canadian Air Travelers Security Charge C$7.94
Tax: US International Arrival Tax $15.10
Tax: Quebec Sales Tax C$1.19
Tax: Canadian Goods and Services Tax C$1.38
Tax: Montreal Airport Improvement Fee C$15.00
Tax: US Immigration Fee $7.00
Tax: USDA APHIS Fee $5.00
Tax: US International Departure Tax $15.10
total $42.20

NEXUS!!!

1) Most people taking advantage of PBG or other near-border airports most likely won't have Nexus.

2) Nexus is only at certain border crossings if I remember correctly.

Well, I would think that if PBG does work out, then people using it frequently would get NEXUS, just like those using NEXUS air also have it for a reason! Also, the Lacolle border crossing certainly does have NEXUS lanes....

And, even assuming parking is free, how much will you pay in gas to get there and back? And how much is your time worth?

By the way, the YUL AIF is not a government tax.

I think you're assuming too much. Those using PBG won't be your business traveller types, but it will more likely be the recreation types making their annual pilgrimage to FLL or MCO. These people won't go through the trouble of getting NEXUS. And given these are the types looking to save even a measly dollar, they won't be willing to pay for NEXUS even if it was easy to get or the process was much more simplified.

True, but there's only one border crossing for PLB (Lacolle/Champlain) and that's got Nexus.

On the contrary, assuming a Nexus card remains a substitute for a passport under WHMI, I think those people will start getting Nexus cards INSTEAD OF PASSPORTS, if they only go to the US every winter. They're cheaper than a passport (both the fee paid to the government and the costs paid elsewhere), require less documentation to obtain, good for a full 5yr not 4yr9mo (if you're lucky), and get you through YUL much faster than a passport, for those trips to California.

I know several people who think U$10/yr is a good price for fast land crossings, accellerated entrance to the US from Canada, and accellerated entrance to Canada from anywhere. They're all planning to get Nexus cards, though most are keeping their passports active for now too.

I also think PLB stands a good chance of being more popular (percentagewise) than BUF -- although the Montreal area is less populated than Southern Ontario, imagine if Pearson were in Pickering, what a difference it would make to BUF traffic from Etobicoke west.

=aw

Really? With CanPass you're told you still need to carry a passport. And in big letters says NOT AN OFFICIAL TRAVEL DOCUMENT.
If this is true, that's just one more reason to switch to Nexus sooner, rather then later.

I've received contradictory information, when we got the Nexus cards we were told (by US agent) we had to keep a passport too. This despite the fact that the CBSA poster on their door said the Nexus card would substitute for a passport. More recent news releases (from the Americans) have also said that it will substitute for a passport under WHTI. It would be good to get it clarified.

I don't think Canada demands passports for Canadians and Americans entering from the US, do they? So if your Canpass information applies to Nexus Air when entering Canada from the US, I'd have to have proof of citizenship, be it passport or the old birth certificate+driver's license combo.

Entering from other countries, of course I'd need my passport (to get into the other country in the first place) but I'd still use the Nexus Air card to use the iris machine.

=aw

This is from the CBSA website at http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/agency/wh...comment-e.html

Though given the US agent told me I still needed a passport (despite the poster and other stuff) I'll still carry it! :)

But I think you can see my point about infrequent travellers, who don't expect to go further afield than FL or CA, abandoning C$87 4.5yr passports for C$80 (or U$50) 5yr Nexus cards.

=aw