Feb 27, 2009
Facility loses $1.5 million contract to handle Pearson's overflow because of reduced traffic
Tanya Talaga
Tess Kalinowski
Staff Reporters - Toronto Star
Buttonville airport may have to close after losing a $1.5 million annual contract because of reduced traffic at Pearson International Airport.
Privately owned Toronto Buttonville Municipal Airport is a necessity in York Region, Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman said in the Legislature yesterday.
He called on Transportation Minister Jim Bradley to help stop the cancellation of a $1.5 million capacity maintenance agreement with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.
"The future of a vital part of York Region and the GTA is in peril," Shurman said. "Buttonville airport, a key component of York's infrastructure, is at risk of closure due to an ill-considered GTAA decision."
Without the cash, Shurman said, the airport, off Highway 404 at 16th Ave., "cannot survive."
Buttonville is one of the 10 busiest airports in Canada, with about 170,000 aircraft departures or landings annually. It employs about 300 people and houses about the same number of planes.
It handles traffic from air ambulances across the province. Several police forces use it, as well as commercial cargo, corporate aviation, charters and private aircraft.
"We're trying to evaluate our future here and what our next steps are. We have a hard time continuing as is," said Derek Sifton, president of Toronto Airways, which has owned and operated Buttonville since 1963.
"We are in a dire situation here. We might have to restrict service or our hours of operation if we are unable to replace that funding."
Noting Buttonville provides a "very vital service," Bradley said the GTAA move to end the subsidy was "an ill-conceived decision" and promised to raise the issue with his federal counterpart, Transport Minister John Baird.
The GTAA, which operates Pearson, blamed a downturn in the aviation industry and overall cost-cutting for eliminating the Buttonville subsidy, which it has paid since 2001. The subsidy came into effect at a time when Pearson was operating at capacity and expanding to meet demand, said GTAA spokesperson Trish Krale.
"Obviously we're not in that situation any more. Obviously, we're not at capacity," she said.
"For us it came down to balancing our own operations and really having to look in-house at Pearson and how to run our business as effectively as possible. It just didn't make sense any more for us to be providing subsidy to a private, for-profit airport operator as a not-for-profit organization ourselves," Krale said.
Although a small number of planes are diverted to Buttonville, its runways aren't long enough for most, so the impact on Pearson will be minimal, she said. Most diverted planes would go to Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Ottawa or, occasionally, North Bay.
The GTAA announced two weeks ago that it will raise passenger fees 25 per cent, to $25 per departing passenger, starting June 1.
It cited the move as a response to Transport Canada's projection of a 5.8 per cent decline in passenger volumes this year. That's the equivalent of 1.8 million fewer passengers travelling through Pearson.
The airports authority has also frozen salaries, closed some gates and cancelled all but the most pressing capital projects.