City Council’s strategic planning sessions begin this coming Monday night, and going into these meetings, the airport expansion will be my top investment priority. Here are seven reasons why we should invest in this important community asset:
- An expanded airport will make it more convenient and cheaper for residents to fly out of Kingston rather than driving to Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa or Syracuse.
- An expanded airport will boost economic development in the city.
- An expanded airport will help KEDCO attract more conferences and sporting events to the city to boost local tourism supporting our community and a healthy downtown.
- If we don’t expand our airport, we risk losing the air service that we have.
- A larger airport terminal will allow more than one airline to operate in Kingston, creating competition and lower prices for flights.
- A longer runway will allow for longer distance flights out of Kingston, to destinations well beyond Toronto and Ottawa.
- An expanded airport terminal will create an important first impression to business travellers, tourists and other visitors that Kingston is a modern, growing, smart and livable city.
One Response
Dear Mr. Paterson,
An expanded runway places the cart before the horse. Air Canada used larger aircraft in the past and Montreal was also served. The first order would be to request larger aircraft service to determine if the demand is there; our runway is longer than that used by Porter’s Island Airport.
Luggage, flight times, and aircraft size, and cost are factors influencing airport use now.