A booming economy in southern Ontario is good news for the aviation industry.
Howard Eng, the CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, says there is the potential to see 110-million passenger movements through Pearson.
Speaking at an Aviation Summit Friday at the Peterborough Airport, Eng says to keep this mass of people moving will require the assistance of smaller airports around Toronto.
“I think each airport will find and develop its own niche, and will provide the right service to the aviation industry that is needed to support the demand both for freight and for passengers,” said Eng.
To that end, the airports have joined together as the Southern Ontario Airport Network. Peterborough is part of the network and Friday’s Aviation Summit was a chance for local businesses and governments to find out what’s happening at the airport.
“It’s looking at successes to date, both on the airport and companies off the airport and really listening to different presentations on what’s happening, what the opportunities are, for Peterborough,” said Trent Gervais, Peterborough Airport Manager.
The airport currently is home to the Seneca College Flight School and a number of aircraft maintenance and refinishing businesses like Flying Colours and KADEX.
Paul Cudmore, from Team Eagle in Campbellford, spoke to attendees about his company, which makes airport maintenance machinery. He spoke about their latest project called BAT, a Braking Ability Tester, a complete aircraft braking system mounted on a truck. When runways are icy, the tester determines how much brake a pilot much apply to safely bring his aircraft to a stop.
“It’s on the runway for about three minutes for a 10,000-foot runway. And as soon as we’re done traversing the length of the runway we can then make our calculations and report that information through the global reporting format,” said Cudmore.
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