04-16-2021, 03:48 PM
(04-16-2021, 03:31 PM)taylortbb Wrote: https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...staff.html
https://outline.com/YTfjNg
Quote:WATERLOO REGION — Regional councillors approved plans to spend $44 million and double the staff at the Region of Waterloo International Airport over the next two years, even though the pandemic has severely limited travel and the airport has no guarantees of promised increases in passengers.
[...]
The money would pay for the expansion of the terminal with a permanent addition and two modular “relocatable” additions, a new baggage-handling system, as well as adding parking.
[...]
The airport master plan, approved in 2017, calls for airport improvements in two phases, when passenger levels hit 250,000 a year and then 500,000 a year. But the recent plans from the two new airlines means the airport is “leapfrogging” over those targets.
Staff project that the new flights will boost the number of passengers at the airport from an estimated 99,000 to 220,000 by the end of this year; 750,000 passengers by the end of 2022 and 1 million or more by 2023.
If we actually see 1M passengers/year I think the investments will be well worth it, but I think staff may be slightly underselling the risks of the airline business. That said, if we don't try then YKF will probably forever remain a tiny airport. For comparison, 1M passengers/year is very slightly more than what the Halifax airport sees.
I'd say it's more than slightly...we're in the middle of a global pandemic that has cut air travel to nothing.
It's insane that we are making such a huge investment right now.
Given that we apparently can't afford to provide childcare, I think this is a gross missuse of money.