Administrators at Peterborough Airport say they’re considering commercial passenger service to Toronto Island’s Billy Bishop Airport, with the thought that commuters would be willing to pay for the time and frustration savings.
To verify this, the airport authority has designed a nine-question online survey on the feasibility of flights from Peterborough to Toronto.
“We really hope to get as many people as we can filling out the survey,” said airport manager Trent Gervais.
“The survey is really about assessing is there a need? Is there a demand? Can the airport offer something to the community to make it easier to do business in Toronto, to connect passengers to Porter, for instance?”
Gervais added that airport staff receive numerous phone calls about the locations the airport serves. As well, he says the construction of the Highway 407 extension will open a new market for the Peterborough Airport.
“Would you rather fight the traffic from Durham to the GTA, or come here?” he said.
Scott Stewart, president of Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Peterborough says his clients will embrace the idea.
“It’s a terrific thing for our community,” he said. “We embrace it. I’m in Toronto quite often. That’s four-and-a-half hours of my time, just in a vehicle, just trying to get to a meeting.”
The flight from Peterborough to Toronto would be 20 minutes long, but Gervais says it’s too early to determine what it will cost. Based on similar service between Niagara Falls and Toronto where the flight is 12 minutes long, the cost could settle in at about $99. The airport administrators say they are waiting for results of the survey before exploring the idea with a “number of airlines.”
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