Wed, Nov 03, 2010
Funding Cut For Private Airport By Toronto Authorities
Buttonville airport, which occupies
about 180 acres near the Markham-Toronto border, will be closed in
about five years. In its place will be a real estate development
which is being described as "a town within a city."
The Canadian newspaper The National Post reports that
the owners of the airport have agreed to the sale to Cadillac
Fairview Corp for the mixed residential and commercial development.
Mike Sifton, the head of the family which owns the airport, said
the decision is "bittersweet." The family has owned the property
since 1963, and he said his father, Mike Sr., "poured his blood,
sweat, and tears" into the airport's operations.
But Sifton said the sale became necessary when the Greater
Toronto Airport Authority abruptly cut off funding for airport
operations which had been provided for the last ten years. The
annual subsidy had been $1.5 million (Canadian) which kept the
airport operating while a new, publicly funded airport was built
nearby in Pickering. The economy moved that project to the back
burner, and the GTAA said it needed to focus on nearby Pearson
airport, which is also publicly owned. Despite about 170,000
aircraft operations a year, most of them GA, at privately owned
Buttonville, the GTAA decided to end its funding agreement two
years early, according to the paper.
The Sifton family appealed to the national government in Ottowa
for assistance, but were turned down despite heavy lobbying by
local leaders.
Pert of the irony is that, with Buttonville closing, it may
speed the development of the airport at Pickering. Many businesses
which are based at the airport need a new home or will be forced to
close. Those include three flight schools, emergency services, and
other aviation-related businesses. In addition, Buttonville is an
important reliever airport handling corporate jet traffic that
would otherwise go to Pearson International or Toronto Island
airports.
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