December 1, 2021 Sent by email to Members, City of Toronto Economic and Community Development Committee City Hall, Toronto Dear Councillors: Re Island Airport Lands We appreciated the opportunity to speak with you this morning. We thought, given the brevity of our oral presentation, it would be useful to you to have our full presentation, annotated. But first, we’d like to respond ...
The Island Airport is in the wrong location
Mr. Virani and Mr. Trudeau,Helping Canadians get through the pandemic is one thing. Propping up an environmentally toxic business that is in the wrong location – a major park and a densely populated area – is another. As Community Air argues persuasively (see media release below): “Our waterfront is closer to enduring peace and ...
CAIR Press Release: Island Airport Needs Private Investment. Is this the opportunity to close it?
CommunityAIR - working towards a clean, green waterfrontFor Immediate Release Tuesday, March 30, 2021Contact: Brian Iler, Chair 416-835-4384 (cell)416 598 0544 (work direct)Ports Toronto today announced it is seeking a financial investor in its Island Airport. By doing so, it admits it has failed in its decades-long efforts to operate a viable airport on ...
Airline industry in trouble
On November 28 the Report on Business section of The Globe and Mail published an article today titled, "Airline workers struggle to find employment as COVID-19 decimates industry." Some excerpts: Canada's industry was a $10 billion industry. Now $350 million, annualized.There were 80,000 employees in the industry. Now 50,000, buoyed up by wage subsidies. That suggests more ...
Is Porter in financial trouble?
This is a delicious story. A Globe article on Saturday revealed that Porter Airline, the scourge of Toronto’s waterfront, is having trouble paying its bills. That’s not a surprise, since it hasn’t operated since March, and has no plans to restart until next February, at the earliest. We’ve all savoured the peace and quiet we’ve had on ...
Letter to Adam Vaughan
The pause in flights of Porter and Air Canada at the island airport has brought a lot of calmness to me and our Bathurst Quay neighbourhood. A stark reminder came a few days ago when Porter had a Q400 idling an engine at the east end of its terminal building. My wife and I have ...