Mark Voysey noted this article in the Business Edge magazine on September 15th and finds the Hamilton activity a possible threat to SOSA in the future
Challenges, including the long list of air carriers that have set up shop in Hamilton only to leave shortly after, might make a less resilient city give up hope of ever supporting a successful airport.
Originally opened in 1940 to train flight crews during the Second World War, the Mount Hope airport, as it was then known, continued to operate for years under the shadow of Toronto's much larger Pearson Airport.
However, with almost one million passengers and 91,000 tonnes of cargo passing through each year, today the Hamilton airport has never been more successful.
Privately owned TradePort International Corp., through its fully owned subsidiary Hamilton International Airport Ltd., is now celebrating its 10th anniversary at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport, having successfully managed the airport into Canada's 10th largest and the largest "dedicated air freight" airport in the country.
Photo courtesy of Hamilton International Airport
Hamilton International Airport president Richard Koroscil says Hamilton provides a low-cost structure for airlines.
Hamilton International Airport (HIA) is now the eastern hub for three courier/cargo companies: UPS, Purolator and CargoJet.
Purolator is the largest of the three courier/cargo carriers at HIA, with more than 1,000 flights per year, 200 employees and a 93,000-sq.-ft sorting facility.
CargoJet, with almost 900 flights in and out of Hamilton, shuttles more than 400,000 lbs. of cargo between 12 Canadian cities via its fleet of nine Boeing B727's.
And while a significant amount of the 318,000 tonnes of cargo that flies in and out of Toronto is carried in the holds of passenger aircraft, Hamilton still lays claim to the largest volume carried by cargo jet traffic in Canada.
HIA also boasts two national passenger carriers. Air Canada's Jazz airline has daily flights to Montreal and Ottawa, and through its Montreal connection to many international destinations. WestJet, despite its change in strategy to operate out of Toronto in 2004, still has a significant schedule of domestic flights in and out of Hamilton.
Richard Koroscil, president and CEO of Hamilton International, outlines the company's approach: "We determined early that we should operate as a secondary airport (to Toronto's Pearson Airport), which presented a great alternative for passengers and carriers. This provides for a low-cost structure for airlines. Toronto is one of the most expensive airports in the world. For example, a Boeing 737 landing in Hamilton would save $4,000 in landing fees.”
(The total cost of airport fees to land at Hamilton for a 737 would be $910.)
"Another advantage is the lack of congestion for air traffic," explains Koroscil. "It's much easier to get in and out of Hamilton airport. And because we're situated close to the GTA market, unlike many European secondary airports, the opportunities are much greater."
TradePort is a consortium of Westpark Developments, a local Hamilton land development company, the Labourers International Union of North America (LIUNA) and YVR (Vancouver) Airport Services Ltd.
The Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth (which has since become the City of Hamilton) was losing upward of $500,000 a year on the airport, so it brought in TradePort in a 40-year build-operate leasing arrangement.
Under the terms of the lease, the city is to receive a portion of the profit from operations. 2006 is expected to be the first year of payment and the amount will not be determined until yearend.
Since the private company took over, the city, the Hamilton airport and its partners have spent $120 million to extend runways, expand services and double the size of the terminal to 6,200 square metres.
With an administrative staff of 50, HIA oversees the operations of the airport, an entity that it claims generates $120 million in employment income for some 3,600 workers and property taxes nearing $1 million each year.
The City of Hamilton's economic development department has declared the airport and the proposed industrial base surrounding the airport as one of its major economic "clusters". But airport management has its sights on even more expansion.
Koroscil feels that HIA now has several compelling reasons why passengers and carriers should consider flying out of Hamilton.
In 1999, a 10,000-ft. runway was constructed (its second runway is 6,000 ft. - Pearson has a total of five runways) that allows for even the largest airplanes to land there.
HIA has unrestricted 24-hour operations, and the airport recently installed a $1.5-million CAT II instrument-landing system that guides aircraft landing under reduced-visibility standards.
"We're one of six airports in Canada with this system," boasts Koroscil.
In 2004, the province built a new section of Highway 6 linking the airport to Highway 403, opening a new access to the west. A proposed Mid-Pennisula Corridor would provide a highway running from Fort Erie right past the airport's front door and connecting to points further east.
Transportation linkages such as air-to-road and rail-to-port are a focus for the city, the Hamilton Port Authority and the newly formed Southern Ontario Gateway Council. Koroscil would like to see a centre for excellence in transportation set up in Hamilton.
As with most development, however, not everyone is as excited by the plans for airport expansion. To the northwest of Hamilton International Airport lies Ancaster, a once cozy village now a mushrooming commuter community featuring subdivisions as plentiful as the cornfields that once stood in their place. Resistance to airport expansion erupted several years ago, making headlines and prompting the HIA management to make some adjustments.
"We pay a lot of attention to the whole noise-management issue," explains Koroscil. "We have a noise-management committee including citizens from the surrounding area. We have equipment that monitors noise levels.
"We've seen a change in the aircraft industry to a much quieter type of airplane. We asked the city to extend the airport-influence zoning to take into account for the high-noise area surrounding the airport (for future development) and they've agreed to do that. And, because we are still in a largely rural area, we have an advantage that other airports don't have."
The city views the 3,200 acres immediately surrounding the airport as an opportunity for industrial and commercial development and has initiated plans for the area to be rezoned from agricultural to urban lands, calling the project Aerotropolis.
But again, opposition to expansion has resulted in the city's zoning proposal being appealed at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) by citizens and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
Their main objections centre around the lack of public consultation and the removal of so much agricultural land without specifically identifying what will take its place. The city claims that the rezoning is to merely facilitate a study to determine options.
Opponents point to the dozen or so similar studies conducted by the city without the need to change zoning. The OMB has scheduled its next hearing for late September.
Janice Currie, a resident of Ancaster, questions the city's rationale.
"I'd like to see some kind of plan from the city. They want to take 3,200 acres all at once. Why can't they develop the properties as required? I also have a hard time believing the city's claim that this will create 52,000 new jobs. How do they know that without some kind of plan?" Eric Gillespie, a lawyer representing Hamiltonians for Progressive Development, says: "Once the zoning is changed from agriculture it will never go back. There is already a portion of the land that is not necessary as agriculture - why do they have to rezone all 3,200 acres? There are still a number of properties, large parcels of brownfield, that could accommodate the infill that the city keeps talking about. Why not use them instead?" Koroscil notes that the province's Greenbelt Plan skirts around the airport. At the same time, the Places to Grow Act of 2005 places severe restrictions on the removal of agricultural land for urban development.
Koroscil sees the development of "employment land" as an enticement for airport activity, but secondary to the development of the HIA facilities itself.
HIA plans to invest a further $1.3 million to double its international arrivals section of the terminal.
Currently, WestJet and Air Canada offer passengers more than 150 flights to 45 destinations a week.
"The airport can easily grow," states Koroscil. "We can grow to 5.5 million passengers (per year), which would make us the fifth-largest airport in Canada and realize $2.5 billion in economic input into the community.”
Koroscil has the target date of 2015 in mind.
Ambitious? Perhaps, but then Hamilton has long called itself the Ambitious City.
With Hamilton International Airport playing an essential role in transportation and the movement of goods in and out of the city, those ambitious goals, and challenges, may well be met one by one.
(Lawson Hunter can be reached at hunter@businessedge.ca)
