Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[eemy]

Just to clarify, once the new wing is opened and they tear down the old terminal, all that will remain to do is install the bridges and pave the tarmac? Or will they still have further construction?

[FFX-ME]

well there is a phase III expansion planned but its only going to be needed in 15 years or so

[citizen j]

Originally Posted by srperrycgy

Yeah, its nice. Arrived on the 1st and came back to Calgary last Friday evening. But the terminal is way too dark! It's a lot smaller than I would have thought. And also, why is Airport Parkway only 2 lanes?? When it is busy, that trip must be hell.

One of the main reasons that the Parkway hasn't been expanded is that it empties onto Bronson Avenue at the north end. Few in the Glebe or in Centretown want to the be on the receiving end of an expanded throughway like that (compare King Edward Avenue aka Autoroute 5 extension). Since the city added northbound on-ramps to the Airport Parkway, it's no longer just an airport service road and so an expanded roadway would also serve as a commuter route to downtown. I guess the feeling is -- more road capacity, more traffic, problem not solved.

And yes, at night, the airport terminal certainly does have some dark spots. I had to shift around to find decent reading light in the departure lounge. But I love the architectural nod to the Train Station in the use of exposed dark trusses. Nice.

Thanks for the update, ac.

[zerokarma]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

^just got our march numbers for you:


2006: 431,679

2007: 540,102*

*rumoured

= 25.11% growth


holy crap

Hey thats pretty good!

That will undoubtfully keep going up as well.

[FFX-ME]

i hope that the phase 3 expansion will not just make it longer but add shape to the airport. something like this.

[eemy]

^ The train station is really an under-rated building. It's big misfortune is being located in the middle of nowhere.

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

Just to clarify, once the new wing is opened and they tear down the old terminal, all that will remain to do is install the bridges and pave the tarmac? Or will they still have further construction?

I'm not entirely sure, but I think construction of the entire new wing will be done before they demolish the rest of the old terminal. The exception being the installation of the remaining bridges and paving the ramp on that (west) side.

[FFX-ME]

hey ac, everywhere it says that the second phase (in construction) will be completed in 2008 and phase 3 is in 2014. It that still the case or they will postpone the third phase for later. Oh i sure wish it will be done in 2014. Anyway, if it is will it just be an elongation of the nw side?

thanks a lot, if you dont know the answer its fine, do you know where to get it though?

[YOWflier]

I honestly don't know what is planned beyond Phase II. To figure it out, I suggest you go straight to the source and send a question to the airport authority via the online form. I've done it a few times in the past.

http://www.ottawa-airport.ca/Airport...ontactUs-e.php

If you do this let us know what they say!

[FFX-ME]

Hey, i got a reply to my questions about the expansion. Basicly the capacity after phase 2 will be over 5M, and phase 3 will comme in about 10 years when they expect the need, so in 2007.

There is no simple answer. If traffic were to increase during the times of day when
we are not busy, we could increase capacity without the addition of new gates. But
because we are an origin/departure market, we have to deal with the morning and
evening peaks which in fact drive the capacity required.



Phase II will allow us to deal with passenger increases using current peaks for the
next 10 years or so, so until roughly 2017. At that time, we expect passenger
traffic to be slightly over 5 million a year.



Phase III will be launched only when needed. Depending on where the passenger growth
will be in the next few years (domestic, transborder or international), depending on
the regulations at that time, particularly with respect to free trade agreements and
security, the nature of Phase II could have different options. Future will tell.



Merci de votre intérêt,



Pierre Lanoix

so that seems prety cool.

[AuxTown]

I just got back from a trip this afternoon in which I saw the terminals in Ottawa, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Edmonton. I would have to say that, without a doubt, Ottawa's new terminal is the best looking in the country. I think it really gives you a feel specific to Ottawa and that several design features really make it unique in Canada....and the world. I think it is one thing that those of us in Ottawa can be proud of and, with Phase II well underway, there shouldn't be any more complaints that our airport is too small for the city.

[FFX-ME]

that is great to hear and it is true that it is a very attractive terminal. But, winnioeg's is prety old, i hope theirs succeeds as well. It is well time that this city had a world class airport. Now if only it could access the world lol.

[AuxTown]

Winnipeg's is pretty old so I wasn't surprized at what I found there, but Calgary was a surprize. With all this talk about Calgary being the new financial capital of Canada and the money flowing out of Alberta, maybe they should have done a nicer job on their new terminal. The ceilings when you are walking around the gates are like 9 feet tall and the entire feel of the airport was uninspired. The only part I liked was the area where they designed the terminal to look like the original one from the 1940's. It's great that they have so many gates but a city's airport is their first impression on the world and, as it stands, it doesn't make a very good impression......at least not one representative of the growth and flourishing economy of the city.

[chris]

If you guys want hard number for Origin and Destination passenger traffic to and from the USA for every single Canadian city, go to the StatsCan website...the latest results are from 2004 but they are still very useful. You will see that YOW is still lacking the right amount of passenger traffic to have non-stop flights to many US destinations, such as SFO

[BlackRedGold]

Originally Posted by chris

If you guys want hard number for Origin and Destination passenger traffic to and from the USA for every single Canadian city, go to the StatsCan website...the latest results are from 2004 but they are still very useful. You will see that YOW is still lacking the right amount of passenger traffic to have non-stop flights to many US destinations, such as SFO

From StatsCan it seems like the Bay Area is third only to New York and DC for passengers flying into and out of Ottawa among US destinations.

Edmonton has fewer passengers flying into and out of the Bay Area but they still have a direct flight.

[harls]

Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey

Winnipeg's is pretty old so I wasn't surprized at what I found there.

Winnipeg is in the process of building a new terminal as we speak.. the one you were in will be decommissioned in a couple of years.

[FFX-ME]

^ I love the exterior look of that terminal, but the interior part doent look as attractive as ours.

[AuxTown]

That terminal looks pretty sleek. I saw some construction fences but I didn't realize that they were building a new one. Way to go Winnipeg.....just make sure it looks nicer than Calgary's !

[chris]

Originally Posted by BlackRedGold

From StatsCan it seems like the Bay Area is third only to New York and DC for passengers flying into and out of Ottawa among US destinations.

Edmonton has fewer passengers flying into and out of the Bay Area but they still have a direct flight.

Yes but don't forget a much smaller aircraft can be used onthe YEG-SFO route, small enough that would result in high loads. YOW-SFO can see an A319, but nothing smaller (I guess maybe an E190, but few airlines are willing to put such a small aircraft on such a long route). Also, even YUL-SFO has had trouble in the past. The flight is currently at 1x daily and the YUL-SFO market is more than twice as large as the YOW-SFO market. We've seen the route be axed before in the recent past. If YUL-SFO has trouble working out...YOW-SFO might too.

[citizen j]

Winnipeg's new terminal is designed by I. M. Pei, no? It's really impressive.
There may not be a perfect airport in the country, but there are some really very good ones.