Thinking Big (Distraction) With Windsor Airport

The propaganda machinery is in motion. Why we can be just like Hamilton and London airports we are told. A Star Editorial claimed that with the new Blue Skies policy "Windsor Airport...is ideally situated to take advantage of international traffic."

Oh sure we can. Let's take a look at our recent aviation history to see how good our position is now:

• Serco Aviation Services Inc., one of the major players in the airport mangement industry just pulled out of Windsor because they could not make money and had to borrow around a million dollars from the City.


• It was said that Serco never made a profit although I thought one year they were in the black by a few thousand dollars


• "Sunquest Vacations was among charter flight companies that cancelled all their Windsor flights this year... there's little advantage to flying out of Windsor over Detroit...a lack of passenger demand."


• "overall success at Windsor's airport is a nearly impossible task given close proximity to Detroit....but with the decline to just a 15-cent advantage, Detroit's flight prices have become difficult to compete with"


• "Detroit-Toronto-Vancouver return flight can be cheaper at $610, taxes included, than a Windsor-Toronto-Vancouver flight at $916, plus taxes"


• Remember Westjet..."it had been losing money on its Windsor route for eight months when it announced the cancellation in June [2005]. While flights were pretty full during the summer, numbers dropped off as the weather became cooler. ... Company spokeswoman Gillian Bentley said there are no plans to return, but added: "Never say never. "It's not feasible at the moment for us, but it will always be on our radar."


• When Westjet left, "Serco is developing a marketing plan to try and draw another discount carrier to Windsor." It did not happen


• Conquest Vacations, Air Canada Vacations, Signature Vacations and Skyservice Airlines were here for awhile


• In 2003, when Westjet numbers were lower than expected, it was said "So many carriers come to Windsor for a short time and then they leave," says Cindy Kassab, owner of Travel Cuts at the University of Windsor.

Windsor airport did well when "Business at Windsor Airport has skyrocketed as more and more Michigan business travellers take advantage of its convenient location, easy access and high exchange rate on the U.S. dollar. "

Windsor airport has one main airline, Air Canada, which is a non-jet feeder operation to Toronto. Interestingly, it also lands in Detroit so why would Americans want to cross the border to fly through Windsor. (Northwest and United also have flights to Toronto).

Compared with Windsor, Hamilton has 5 airlines, both regular and charter, flying within Canada, the US and Europe. London has 4 airlines including Northwest.

Now let's get real... What is this all about? Windsor airport is going nowhere for a long time. We are being fed the THINK BIG dream again so that taxpayers can be conned into developing "shovel-ready" land around the airport for some developers if they ever choose to come here. Why should Eddie be Mayor when he can play entrepreneur-developer with our taxpayer money.

He wants to copy what London does. It's as simple as that. This is his goal:

• DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
  
  With over 1,500 acres surrounding the taxiway and runway infrastructure, London International Airport is an ideal site to locate your business. Rail, road and air transportation links makes London Airport a multi-modal asset. Currently over 44 businesses are located at the London International Airport.
  
  Skyway Industrial Park
  Skyway Industrial Park is the current land development at the Airport and involves a co-venture agreement with the City of London. The 300 acre property is adjacent to the Airport with 43% owned by the Airport and 57% owned by the City.
  
  Skyway Industrial Park Property Lots
  Land available for both long-term lease and purchase
  Serviced and unserviced land
  Variety of lot sizes
  Access to the taxiways and runways
  Outstanding road access to Airport Road and 400 series highways
  Less than a two hour drive to either Detroit and Toronto
  150 million people within a radius of 500 miles

Oh and this is why, along with the arena, we cannot afford the capital cost of parks and recreational facilities in Windsor! And do not forget the $75M Tunnel deal too (but it may have a happy ending!)