waterloo airport runway project

This proposed airport expansion is the wrong direction for many reasons:

The Waterloo Airport has been unsuccessful in attracting long term airlines for many years.  We've seen many different airlines attempt to operate from here, with little success.   This is only going to get harder now;  the pandemic has permanently changed the airline industry, as there will be many fewer business travelers flying anywhere.  The entire industry will be very dependent on the personal travel market, which is far more cost conscious and less convenience driven.  Waterloo Airport can't compete with the large airports (Pearson) for variety of destinations and times, and can't compete on price against Buffalo and Detroit.   Given the increasing costs of jet fuel due to the increasing carbon taxes, it may be a stretch to assume continuing growth in short haul air travel. 

Waterloo Airport is dependent on funding from the region, and has been unable to be self funding from private resources and customers.  This expansion would be using capital dollars that could be far more productively used elsewhere in the region than on rarely needed runways. 

The destruction of farmland, wetland and treed areas is very concerning, especially for such a rarely needed purpose.   We should be very concerned about every acre of natural ground consumed for urban uses, and should pay particular attention to land consumed for "just in case" purposes.