1overcosc
Active Member
Those cities all have feeder flights or airport bus services into Pearson. They won't be going into downtown Toronto to take the UPE.
You're definitely wrong on that. As an Kingstonian I can say that many people here take VIA to Toronto then UP to Pearson. More people do that than fly out of Kingston airport. I myself am doing that this Saturday for my trip down south. That's what sunseekers in Kingston do.
Feeder flights are barely used. With the exception of Ottawa, flying into Pearson from the smaller cities is not a fun time. The flights are infrequent and expensive. Booking a flight from Kingston-Toronto-Destination is typically hundreds of dollars more than just flying out of Toronto to start. Only 25% of air passengers originating from the Kingston region use Kingston airport for this reason. At least half just go to Pearson. And VIA->UP is by far the most popular way to get there. The airport bus has seen its ridership fall almost in half since UP opened; last year Coach Canada had to add a stop at Yorkdale and cut the buses from full size coaches to minibuses to keep the route viable.
One of our city councillors has actually used the existence of UPE as an argument in favour of closing down the airport and selling off the property.
UP has definitely taken cars off the road from Kingston actually. A lot of the people who now do VIA->UP used to drive and park at Pearson.