Hamilton International Airport

[SteelTown]

Looks like council is being asked to join in with the Airport’s Infrastructure funding proposal. Probably a P3 funding proposal.

What’s part of the infrastructure-funding request? I don’t know.

[realcity]

P3 is so 90s... they adhere to that as much as they do "Triple Bottom Line". Sorry am I not talking 'board room talk'. The City has no idea what it;s doing wrt the airport. they keep getting takin for rides and then ask for another ride.

We can't even get the 'public' records made public..

[SteelTown]

Airport looks for infrastructure money

Ken Mann
5/10/2010
http://www.900chml.com/Channels/Reg/...spx?ID=1228213

The operator of Hamilton International Airport has some big plans.

Tradeport's Richard Koroscil says they are currently in discussions with the federal and provincial governments, and trying to land a 98 million dollar infrastucture project.

If selected for funding, Koroscil notes that it would involve an expansion of the runway and terminal, a cargo apron and taxiway and the development of a multi-tenant cargo facility.

He adds that Tradeport and the upper two levels of government would each pay one-third of the cost.

Koroscil appeared before city politicians on Monday to get support for their application.

[SteelTown]

Phew they are requesting no money from the City just support. Obviously the City should support the funding application.

[realcity]

phew.... can;t wait tilll this happens.

[SteelTown]

Here's an idea about the funding application from LikeHamilton...

Originally Posted by LikeHamilton

As to SODA funding, I believe it was:
Terminal Expansion - $60,000,000
Runway Expansion - $20,000,000
Dock Facility Upgrades - $12,000,000

That is $92 million for Hamilton Airport.

[LikeHamilton]

New numbers for the Hamilton International Airport Infrastructure money.

Terminal Expansion - $60,000,000 *
Runway Expansion - $20,000,000
Dock Facility Upgrades - $12,000,000 *
Cargo Apron and Taxiway - $6,000,000 *
Total $98,000,000

*Shovel Ready Projects

Once approved, the shovel ready projects can start within three months and finish in 10 to 18 months. The runway expansion start up time is 12 to 24 months.

The full report.

http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...1_PED10121.pdf

[SteelTown]

Nice!

Job Creation:
As a result of the “shovel-ready” projects, 250 full-time, skilled construction jobs will be created immediately, while roughly 17,250 jobs will be created over a seven year period. Direct jobs will account for 6,554 of the 17,250 total jobs created, whereas indirect and induced jobs will represent the remaining 10,696.

[markbarbera]

At last the airport is moving on this often-delayed expansion phase. I think it was originally planned to happen in 2002. There's a tight timeline so hopefully the funding falls into place without a hitch...

According to NAV Canada figures, YHM ranks 17th nationwide for total passenger counts, and third overall for total cargo tonnage transported, so these expansions are well overdue.

[SteelTown]

Committee and Council voted unanimously for the infrastructure funding application.

[LikeHamilton]

On the next Planning Committee meeting agenda. It does not say why they need all this extra parking. I have never seen the lot close to being full. Maybe the new terminal is bigger than we think and maybe a parking garage? They even show shuttle bus waiting areas. They talk about using it for 3 years.

The application is to allow for the temporary use of a gravel-surfaced parking lot in conjunction with the Hamilton International Airport.

The purpose of the application is to rezone 2.7 hectares in the northeast corner of the subject lands, which is located at the southwest corner of the Highway No. 6 (South) Airport Ramp and Airport Road West (see Appendix “A”). The rezoning proposal will permit the temporary use of the lands for the surface parking of 779 motor vehicles in conjunction with the Hamilton International Airport (see Appendix “C”).

http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...18PED10103.pdf

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by LikeHamilton

On the next Planning Committee meeting agenda. It does not say why they need all this extra parking. I have never seen the lot close to being full. Maybe the new terminal is bigger than we think and maybe a parking garage? They even show shuttle bus waiting areas. They talk about using it for 3 years.


http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...18PED10103.pdf

The extra parking is temporary. So it could be that they are going to have that lot for construction workers and shuttle them onto the site rather than having them park on site and take spots from paying customers. They may even be using part of the current lot as a staging area for the construction.

[LikeHamilton]

779 motor vehicles

That is a lot of construction worker!

[SteelTown]

Think I read it's mostly for employees. They are probably losing their parking spots soon.

[SteelTown]

Hamilton to Moncton from WestJet is game over in October 2010.

That's sad.

[urban_planner]

Where did you see this? You can still book flights after October, I could book one for $144 for Monday Nov 22nd with a return on Monday Nov 29th for 144.

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by urban_planner

Where did you see this? You can still book flights after October, I could book one for $144 for Monday Nov 22nd with a return on Monday Nov 29th for 144.

Check out this Times and Transcript article

[SteelTown]

WestJet drops Moncton

May 28, 2010
Joey Coleman
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/777277

Another weekday WestJet flight is about to take off from Hamilton for the last time. After about 10 years, service to Moncton will be discontinued at the end of October.

"There are just not sufficient numbers of people who to travel that particular route," said WestJet spokesperson Robert Palmer.

He says WestJet could not sustain the route during the winter and did not rule out a return of service to Moncton next summer.

"We'll have to evaluate how things go this summer."

The cut means that WestJet will now be offering five daily destinations from Hamilton (Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax and Vancouver).

Hamilton served as WestJet's eastern hub for four years until April 18, 2004, when 60 per cent of WestJet's Hamilton flights were cancelled and the airline made Pearson airport its eastern hub. According to the latest annual report, close to 550,000 passengers used Hamilton airport in 2008, compared with a peak of one million in 2003.

"We're disappointed," said Richard Koroscil, president and CEO of Hamilton International Airport.

He says the airport understands WestJet must make its decisions as a business and the economic situation, especially in the Maritimes, made it difficult to continue the route during the winter.

"We'll now be looking for an alternative service provider for that particular route."

Dr. Mark Ferguson of the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics notes that Moncton is a relatively small city. "I would suspect that the issue is more on the Moncton side than the Hamilton side as far as insufficient demand is concerned."

He says Hamilton would have cause for concern if the service cut involved a major city such as Halifax.

WestJet's Palmer says the airline remains committed to Hamilton as a destination and has no plans to cancel other flights from the city.

[c@taract_soulj@h]

Originally Posted by LikeHamilton

New numbers for the Hamilton International Airport Infrastructure money.

Terminal Expansion - $60,000,000 *
Runway Expansion - $20,000,000
Dock Facility Upgrades - $12,000,000 *
Cargo Apron and Taxiway - $6,000,000 *
Total $98,000,000

*Shovel Ready Projects

Once approved, the shovel ready projects can start within three months and finish in 10 to 18 months. The runway expansion start up time is 12 to 24 months.

The full report.

http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...1_PED10121.pdf

That's a whack of funding there which is great! However, we need to make parts of the expansion out of velcro so airlines actually stay at YHM and don't leave a year later

[LikeHamilton]

Airport pays up, but the landing's bumpy

TheSpec.com - Business -

City gets $180,000 in 'pocket change' after 2009 hits aviation industry 'especially hard'

Steve Arnold
The Hamilton Spectator

(Jun 15, 2010)

City taxpayers will see a little less cash from Hamilton airport this year, but operators say they're still delivering a major economic boost.

In its annual report yesterday, the private company that operates the airport under a lease from the city said Hamilton will get just under $180,000 in profit-sharing for 2009 because it was such a tough year.

While the city's share of the airport company's $2.5-million net profit for the year amounts to little more than pocket change in municipal terms, since 1996 operators say Hamilton has gained the benefit of $185 million in economic activity from the once moribund field.

"Hamilton airport is one of the most successful P3s (public-private partnerships) in Canada," said Richard Koroscil, president of John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport.

"We've taken on a losing proposition and turned it into a profitable winner."

Hamilton airport is operated by TradePort International Corporation under a 40-year lease from the city. TradePort, in turn, is owned by Vancouver-based YVR Airport Services. The lease runs until 2036. Under its terms, the city is to receive a rental payment based on a formula of airport revenues and operating income.

Beyond its share of airport profits, however, Hamilton has also been relieved of the $1 million a year in losses it covered during the years it owned and operated the airport. Instead, it now gets $1 million a year in property taxes. Since the privatization deal, those have amounted to more than $22 million in benefits to the city.

Hamilton's cut for 2009 is down 3 per cent from nearly $184,000 in 2008, Koroscil said, because in 2009 "the aviation sector was hit especially hard."

In Hamilton, the severity of that hit was seen in a 21 per cent drop in the volume of passengers passing through the airport -- just over 431,000 people flew in and out of Hamilton last year compared to 2008.

A major part of that drop was attributed to the bankruptcy of Flyglobespan, the Scottish discount carrier that had offered seasonal scheduled flights between Hamilton and a number of destinations in Britain.

The company failed in December 2009, leaving no time to get a replacement carrier lined up for the 2010 travel season.

Hamilton's success story for the year was its cargo operations -- courier company DHL and Canada Post moved all of their air operations to Hamilton from Toronto and CargoJet completed and occupied a new $9-million hangar capable of servicing new, wide-body aircraft that can move more cargo while using less fuel.

All of those factors, Koroscil said, combined to help the local business post a small increase in cargo volume when other airports were reporting declines of more than 15 per cent.

Koroscil said the airport has met all of its targets during the first fiscal quarter, leaving him "cautiously optimistic" 2010 will be a better year.

"The market is still fragile," he said. "We're not certain where it's going and the airline industry was beaten up pretty badly, but we're still ... very cautiously optimistic."