Reposting: The Sweetheart Deal or ...
(Editor's note: This is the second attempt to make this posting from Bob Kotyk. Just when I start thinking I know a lot about computer software something like this happens that totally bamboozles me. My apologies.)
This is a second attempt at this posting, without all the happy faces I hope. After all, the cost to the taxpayer is no laughing matter.
Pearson Airport charges a full, 70-passenger Q400 $2,509.70 to take-off and land according to calculations based on publicly-available information on the airport’s website.
Billy Bishop Airport, formerly Toronto City Centre Airport, formerly Island Airport, charges $801 for the same service according to rates published on the Toronto Port Authority’s website.
The difference, $1,708.70 or $24.41 per passenger, is money lost to the TPA since they don’t match Pearson’s charges. Should they? Based on the claim of downtown airport convenience and the much-touted $50 cab ride savings to Pearson, the TCCA passenger is getting off pretty lightly by comparison, $74.41 lightly, for those taking the free shuttle.
Why is the Island Airport so cheap?
The land it sits on its some of the most expensive in Canada, yet the Port Authority pays no rent and is required to pay the federal government only a charge of 3% of its gross revenues.
The land was owned by the Toronto Harbour Commission, that once was an arm of the City of Toronto, but converted to a federal government agency ten years ago.
By contrast, the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, that operates Parson airport, pays $151 million in rent to the federal government.
By giving the TPA free land, there’s a whopping indirect subsidy of every Q400 passenger.
In 2008, the TCCA claimed 508,574 passengers http://dcnonl.com/article/id36496. Assuming 95% flew on Q400s, the per-passenger subsidy cost the TCCA $11,793,569 last year.
On November 25, Transport Minister John Baird announced that Canadian taxpayers would be spending $893,750 for safety improvements to the airport http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Transport-Canada-1082010.html. That’s $893,750 the TPA could easily afford if it wasn’t subsidizing Q400 passengers.
Bob Kotyk
This is a second attempt at this posting, without all the happy faces I hope. After all, the cost to the taxpayer is no laughing matter.
Pearson Airport charges a full, 70-passenger Q400 $2,509.70 to take-off and land according to calculations based on publicly-available information on the airport’s website.
Billy Bishop Airport, formerly Toronto City Centre Airport, formerly Island Airport, charges $801 for the same service according to rates published on the Toronto Port Authority’s website.
The difference, $1,708.70 or $24.41 per passenger, is money lost to the TPA since they don’t match Pearson’s charges. Should they? Based on the claim of downtown airport convenience and the much-touted $50 cab ride savings to Pearson, the TCCA passenger is getting off pretty lightly by comparison, $74.41 lightly, for those taking the free shuttle.
Why is the Island Airport so cheap?
The land it sits on its some of the most expensive in Canada, yet the Port Authority pays no rent and is required to pay the federal government only a charge of 3% of its gross revenues.
The land was owned by the Toronto Harbour Commission, that once was an arm of the City of Toronto, but converted to a federal government agency ten years ago.
By contrast, the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, that operates Parson airport, pays $151 million in rent to the federal government.
By giving the TPA free land, there’s a whopping indirect subsidy of every Q400 passenger.
In 2008, the TCCA claimed 508,574 passengers http://dcnonl.com/article/id36496. Assuming 95% flew on Q400s, the per-passenger subsidy cost the TCCA $11,793,569 last year.
On November 25, Transport Minister John Baird announced that Canadian taxpayers would be spending $893,750 for safety improvements to the airport http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Transport-Canada-1082010.html. That’s $893,750 the TPA could easily afford if it wasn’t subsidizing Q400 passengers.
Bob Kotyk
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