Pickering Airport

Pickering Airport (also known as Toronto Pickering International Airport) is a proposed international airport for the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population. The proposed location is located in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, 50 km (31 mi) north-east of Downtown Toronto and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and 65 km (40 mi) east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. The original plans for the airport were developed during the 1970s as part of a widespread federal government plan to improve air travel across Canada. Lands were expropriated in 1972, but opposition to the expansion plan was widespread. Things came to a head when the provincial government stated it would not build the roads or sewers needed to service the site, and the plans were shelved in 1975.

Since then the idea of opening the airport has been floated several times, but the lands have remained undeveloped. During that time, the federal government has stepped out of direct operations of many Canadian airports, and the major Toronto Airports passed control to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA). The GTAA had proposed opening the Pickering site as late as November 2004, estimating that the airport would cost approximately $2 billion, and it anticipated up to 11.9 million passengers per year (or 32,600 per day) by 2032. A "Needs Assessment Study" was completed by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority for the federal government in May 2010. After a "due diligence review," Transport Canada released the report in July 2011. The positive decision will trigger an environmental assessment and a review of the costs and benefits of the GTAA's proposal.

The GTAA has assumed it will be selected as constructor and operator, initially serving general aviation but eventually including scheduled passenger service, to relieve congestion at Lester B. Pearson International Airport west of Toronto. A technical analysis of the changes proposed by the GTAA's draft plan was expected from the federal government in 2005. A public notice was published in several newspapers on September 28, 2005 outlining zoning regulations.