YYZ Tops the List

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Originally uploaded by Irina Souiki / Riri.

News broke today that Toronto's Pearson Airport, affectionately called YYZ, has now scaled to the top of the list of most expensive airports in the world at which to land. Tokyo's Narita Airport was the previous winner, previously charging jumbos $9,400 to land at the facility while Toronto will now charge over $13,000 per landing, an exorbitant amount that will take a huge toll on Canada's busiest airport as it is supposed to enjoy major growth.

Turns out the government in Ottawa is responsible for jacking up the rent disproportionately to other Canadian airports. In a few years time Toronto's Pearson will pay 63% of all airport rent in Canada, while carrying only 33% of air traffic. Ultimately this price hike means fewer planes can afford to fly to and from the city, likely diverting instead through other hubs, while Torontonians wishing to travel will suffer the consequences. That doesn't seem like a bright idea: fewer tourists (dollars) coming in to the city, and fewer people traveling abroad for business.

My concerns about Pearson don’t stop there. A lack of a high-speed rail link to our downtown core does nothing for our reputation as a world-class city, a title we all seem to strive for, and though it's called Toronto Pearson, it's not even in Toronto, nor the GTA. The airport is located in and governed by the suburb City of Mississauga. All we have is the Toronto Island Airport supporting regional travel. Since it's about 6 blocks from my work I thought it might be nice to try it out and fly up to a friend’s cottage in Timmons last summer instead of driving 7 hours each way, but $600 was just too much to pay. So I'm feeling a little stuck here. Could try a Westjet flight out of Hamilton, Ontario next time and pay substantially lower flight prices, but it just seems so ridiculous to live in a city 5 million strong and not have a reasonable airport at our finger tips. So much for 'Toronto Unlimited'.