Pier F Opens At Pearson International
Posted January 30, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
They came.
They “soar”.
It conquered.
Julius Caesar knew that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
And neither was Toronto’s new Pier F Terminal at Pearson International Airport, which officially took off Tuesday, after more than eight years of planning.
The new facility, which replaces the soon-to-be demolished Terminal 2, costs millions of dollars to construct and boasts state of the art equipment, including an electric walkway that speeds up the farther you go on it.
It also boasts 25 gates, new runways and taxiways, improved restaurant facilities and shops, an airport train system and more.
It also takes seven million more passengers a year than its predecessor and a few of them got their first look at the place as the first flights left in the morning.
But did the capacity to add travellers equate to the ability for airport personnel to handle the new load?
Reviews are mixed.
“Oh, it’s so bright and light and organized,” gushes one tourist surveying the new digs.
But not everyone agrees it passes with flying colours.
“I thought with more employees and a larger area that we would just have things moving a little quicker, but apparently we don’t,” grumbles Cory Scott as he waits in a long line.
“A little bit slow so far,” agrees a passenger named Doug. “It would have been nice to add a few more staff members on the line.”
But those with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority insist they’re happy with the new complex.
“By rebuilding Toronto Pearson, we are confident that we are now in a position to meet the demands of passengers,” assures G.T.A.A. President and C.E.O. John Kaldeway. “We are truly ahead of the curve when it comes to providing a facility that is worthy of the communities which it serves.”
Pearson International is already the most expensive airport in the world in which to land an aircraft. Osaka and Tokyo in Japan are second and third.
Will this new terminal make it even more costly for airlines to land here, forcing up ticket prices?
“Any fees that we collect from the airlines represent less than five percent of their operating costs,” spokesman Scott Armstrong maintains. “Their major costs are fuel and labour.”
The total bill for the terminal – including the price of associated demolition and apron construction work – was $800 million.
The entire budget of the Airport Development Program was $4.5 billion, which according to the G.T.A.A. was completed on time, on budget and without any government funding.
But passengers have already paid for the privilege of using the gleaming new facility.
They’ve been kicking in a 33 percent hike in airport fees to help pay for the new Pier F. And to some, that “F” has stood only for ‘funding.’
For a more in depth look at the plans for the new addition, click here. (.pdf file)
Terminal 2 Closes After Final Flight
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