Toronto Pearson International Airport

[ShonTron]

ItThey've tried sound insulation, and may replace parts or motors with ones that operate more quietly. Ah, to be on the leading edge of technology and see all the unforeseen little problems associated with that...

There were a few workers tinkering with the thing on the 4th. Who knows what's going on and whether it means anything.

 

[EnviroTO]

Is anyone aware of what is happening on the north end of the airport lands (Airport Rd. and Derry roughly)?

Perhaps this...

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/498556

Sounds like Air Canada needs a rail connection to the airport to transfer jet fuel to new tanks that will be built. Although they say that it will be pumped to the existing tank farm by 6km of pipe but the distance from this property to the existing tank farm is 3km. Perhaps two pipes 3km each?

 

[p5connex]

I read that article the other day, but didn't finish it. It does seem like a rather large waste of prime development land for fuel tanks! I somehow remember the GTAA was tinkering with the idea of building a business/hotel/convention facilities on this plot of the airport lands..?

p5

 

[interchange42]

I think it's in progress right now. I don't expect it to move all that quickly though. From what I recall Pearson is now at it's desired/demanded service level gates wise for at least 2 - 3 years. They'll slowly break down T2 and expand as needed, the piers planned to go in the area taken up by T2 aren't that significant anyway.

T2 is already entirely gone, although its parking garage has been turned over to airport employees while a new garage for employees is under construction at the Viscount People Mover station. Once that garage is operating sometime in mid 2009, the T2 garage will be torn down.

Pearson management will monitor airport usage of course, and will start work on Pier G when projections determine that it will be needed. Pier H and I can eventually be added as well when they are needed. All of these are possible once the T2 Parking Garage is gone.

Any new pier will be quite significant: Pier G would be about the size of Pier E, and Pier H would be nearly the size of Pier F. Things are more up-in-the-air (so to speak) in regards to Pier I. It would likely replace the current remote terminal from which AC Jazz flights operate to the US. Original plans for Pier I also assumed that the access roads from the 427 would be removed here (with new access ramps to the 409 entrance to the airport added to replace them.) It is no longer so certain that the 427 access ramps will be removed now, so Pier I would have to be constructed in less space.

While Pier G may be built in the next few years (should traffic continue to grow), Pier H is far off, and Pier I is quite far off. At any point that the airport may need more terminal space before a new pier is finished, the Infield Terminal can be reopened to take overflow.

42

 

[interchange42]

I somehow remember the GTAA was tinkering with the idea of building a business/hotel/convention facilities on this plot of the airport lands..?

p5

Pearson is considering building all of those facilities at Viscount People Mover station, not up at Derry and Airport roads.

42

 

[p5connex]

^^^Aha, thanks 42!

With regards to the expansion of T1, I don't see much happening in the next few years. Supposedly, the building is only at about 60-65% capacity and there is always the Infield Terminal to help in overflow situations. Nonetheless, I think that the prospect of competing with the likes of LA, O'Hare, and SFO are going to be a challenge, especially considering the border issues.

p5

 

[EnviroTO]

Nonetheless, I think that the prospect of competing with the likes of LA, O'Hare, and SFO are going to be a challenge, especially considering the border issues.

Unless the participants are a more global audience than a US one in which case YYZ would do better than the likes of LAX, ORD, and SFO with the current border issues. US citizens have less of a problem crossing their own border than the international crowd does.

 

[ShonTron]

I have heard of more and more people intentionally avoiding the US to connect flights. Maher Arar is one of many good reasons.

Heck, members of the Brazilian Paralympic team were on my flight to PEK 11 days ago. I figured they must have come to YYZ via MEX (Mexicana) or direct to Pearson. I wouldn't be surprised it was to avoid the US.

 

[nfitz]

I have heard of more and more people intentionally avoiding the US to connect flights. Maher Arar is one of many good reasons.

Even for Canadians it's tempting to avoid the US if possible. Unlike most countries, in the US a passenger transitting from one international flight to another has to clear US immigration. I've been caught by this, flying once from Korea to Toronto, changing planes in Seattle, I discovered US immigration has a rule that if you hold a US Trade Nafta work permit, it's automatically revoked if you land in a US airport coming from ... well at least from Asia - I'd assume any non-Nafta nation.

 

[marcus_a_j]

Even for Canadians it's tempting to avoid the US if possible. Unlike most countries, in the US a passenger transitting from one international flight to another has to clear US immigration. I've been caught by this, flying once from Korea to Toronto, changing planes in Seattle, I discovered US immigration has a rule that if you hold a US Trade Nafta work permit, it's automatically revoked if you land in a US airport coming from ... well at least from Asia - I'd assume any non-Nafta nation.

I don't know about having work permits, but from my experience being a Canadian citizen I didn't have to clear US immigration when I landed at LAX from New Zealand, going to Toronto. The only thing I had to do was re-check my bags, get my boarding pass and go through security (didn't have to do that going to NZ, tho). I was literally free to go anywhere I wanted to inside the county without ever being asked a single question (I was tempted to take a cab to Venice Beach during my 10-hour layover, but I was broke and tired). Those people on my flight who were en route to London (except Americans and Canadians) on the same flight had to get off, go through US immigration, and then reboard the same plane.

 

[nfitz]

I don't know about having work permits, but from my experience being a Canadian citizen I didn't have to clear US immigration when I landed at LAX from New Zealand, going to Toronto. The only thing I had to do was re-check my bags, get my boarding pass and go through security (didn't have to do that going to NZ, tho). I was literally free to go anywhere I wanted to inside the county without ever being asked a single question (I was tempted to take a cab to Venice Beach during my 10-hour layover, but I was broke and tired). Those people on my flight who were en route to London (except Americans and Canadians) on the same flight had to get off, go through US immigration, and then reboard the same plane.

Hang on, you didn't go through immigration, but could go anywhere in the county??? Sounds like a screw-up to me. Was this recent?

I have done that routing (Auckland-LAX-YYZ), in August 2006. We cleared immigration and customs before dropping our bags back in again.

 

[marcus_a_j]

Hang on, you didn't go through immigration, but could go anywhere in the county??? Sounds like a screw-up to me. Was this recent?

I have done that routing (Auckland-LAX-YYZ), in August 2006. We cleared immigration and customs before dropping our bags back in again.

Duh, I'm an idiot. My memory is going bye-bye. Thinking about it again, I did go through immigration, but since I'm a Canadian I didn't have to be photographed or submit my fingerprints or whatever it is they do when foreigners enter the U.S. My apologies. I was thinking that since the process was a breeze compared to everyone else on that plane, it was just like I didn't have to go through immigration. I waited in line for no more than a few minutes. That was a year before you, in Aug. 2005

 

[GregWTravels]

I discovered US immigration has a rule that if you hold a US Trade Nafta work permit, it's automatically revoked if you land in a US airport coming from ... well at least from Asia - I'd assume any non-Nafta nation.

I ran into this during pre-clearance in Shannon, Ireland.

The visa isn't revoked, but you do have to fill out a new I94 and the questioning is more explicit than a usual passenger. Technically, the I-94 should be removed before you leave the NAFTA zone (which includes certain countries in the Caribbean, though not part of NAFTA), and a new one issued when you return to the US.

more here: TN Visa travel internationally and this thread as well.

 

[Edward]

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/501966

Airport plan in holding pattern

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority says it is pushing back plans to build a new pier at Pearson international airport.

Pearson operator cites turmoil in financial markets as next development phase is temporarily shelved

Sep 19, 2008 04:30 AM

CHRIS SORENSEN
BUSINESS REPORTER

The operator of Pearson International Airport has temporarily shelved the next phase of the airport's development amid the ongoing credit crunch and turmoil in financial markets.

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which recently completed a $4.4 billion redevelopment project that included a new terminal, was supposed to sit down in a few months and begin contemplating a new pier that would mainly service airlines flying to the United States.

The project is estimated to cost between $800 million to $850 million. But CEO Lloyd McCoomb said yesterday the project is now off the table because of the financial crisis centred in the United States that has put a deep freeze on debt markets.

"We were looking at starting next year with the design ... and we were thinking of starting construction by 2011 and being finished by 2014," McCoomb said.

"But all that's on full hold until we see how this thing plays out."

McCoomb's comments came as the U.S. Federal Reserve and central banks in Canada, Europe and Japan agreed yesterday to support global money markets with $180 billion.

The move was an effort to restore investor confidence as efforts continued yesterday to contain the crisis to a handful of U.S. financial firms that made bad bets on home mortgages.

As for the GTAA's existing debt load of $7 billion, McCoomb said the bonds have "performed amazingly well through all of this," which he attributed to the fact that the GTAA was an investment in infrastructure.

There are other headwinds on the horizon for the country's biggest airport.

Passenger traffic through Pearson is up more than 5 per cent this year, but McCoomb said the forecast is for a 2.5 per cent drop in passengers in 2009 because of cumulative impact of a slowing economy and historically high fuel prices on airlines.

"I'm not crowing," he said of this year's strong numbers. "I'm expecting that we're going to feel this sooner or later."

In June, Air Canada said it was cutting back on its flying by 7 per cent and slashing up to 2,000 employees in order to offset ballooning fuel bills.

Then, last month, Ottawa-based Zoom became the latest Canadian carrier to shutter operations and file for bankruptcy protection, citing high fuel prices and "aggressive" creditors.

McCoomb noted that the GTAA cut landing fees charged to airlines this year by 3.1 per cent and terminal fees by 4.7 per cent – the first time in the authority's history that fees were reduced.

 

[Dan416]

I hope the airport expansion isn't shelved indefinitely.