Only the Name has Changed

City officials no longer refer to it as the aerotropolis, apparently in response to the negative reception the idea received from local citizens, but the basic premise of the airport as the growth engine of the future continues to dominate the re-named “airport employment growth district”.

The latest consultant reports conclude that “the airport lands, new Highway 6, Highway 403 and the existing Airport Business Park provide key infrastructure and strategic land uses upon which to develop a larger business park and create land use options.”

In defence of this view, they point to “the current trends of the ‘new economy’ such as e-commerce, supply-chain management, just-in-time delivery, and an increasing consumer preference for made-to-order products have all created a demand for guaranteed, time sensitive delivery, which in turn has placed increasing demand on cargo airports across North America.”

Hamilton’s airport has been struggling for most of this decade, especially in cargo shipments. Those stood at 90,000 tonnes last year – precisely the same level they hit eight years ago – but the consultants continue the long-standing practice of predicting big improvements just ahead.

“Forecast cargo volumes are anticipated to significantly increase over the short to medium-term (i.e. 2012) largely due to recent expansions at Cargo Jet, combined with the growing demands for air cargo shipment across the [sic] North America.”

These rosy projections are not accompanied by any analysis of the implications of the rapidly rising fuel prices that have pushed at least nine American airline companies into bankruptcy in the first five months of this year. Oil at $130 a barrel has incited the largest carrier – American Airlines – to start charging a fee for all checked baggage pieces, and the biggest Canadian companies to impose fuel surcharges on ticket prices.

Similarly, the widespread predictions of $200 a barrel in the next two years are not mentioned, nor any discussion of peak oil.

The 500 pages of studies also fail to mention climate (except for “the investment climate”) or its implications for the future of air travel, as even governments adopt greenhouse gas reduction targets.