Interesting sightings on my trip to YYZ...Any comments?

This isn't really a trip report but some comments on YYZ where I had to go this week. Was there for pretty much the first time and it struck me as a big but underutilized airport. Perhaps it was just that I arrived in the morning and returned in mid afternoon but no lines or crowds anywhere I went, parts of the place look abandoned and there are a whole bunch of disused Dash 8s parked up there.

It's a good place to spot passenger A310s because Air Transat still operates several, and also to spot Canadian charter airlines not often seen in the US like Skyservice. However, I would say the most interesting things I saw were a Transaero 767, which I was told does nonstop YYZ-Moscow, and US Airways N515AU (old colors 733) which has an unusual sticker near the front door. I couldn't make it out but it is much larger than the 'heritage' sticker and not at all the same shape or color as the Star Alliance sticker, I am guessing it is the logo of a Canadian tour company that the aircraft is being chartered to but can anyone add to this?

This photo http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=405539 from a year ago clearly shows just the Star Alliance sticker near the front door.

YYZ seems especially underutilized now because a pier of Terminal 1 is about to be opened, so there isn't any traffic in that whole section. I was connecting in YYZ last week and only saw an engine-less 737-200 parked at one of the new gates. When the new pier opens later this month, it will eliminate the need to switch terminals when connecting to most flights at YYZ.

Thanks for your comments guys, didn't know about T1 as I was flying AA at T3 but now the situation makes more sense, I saw the engineless 732 as well now that you mention it. In and out of T3 seemed relatively effortless but I guess the other terminals have been a hassle for connections.

As for the US Airways, it wasn't the Star Alliance sticker unless a very deformed one, it was predominantly a large white sticker with what looked like a stylized "W" on it, and it was larger in size than the "heritage" sticker. It was forward of the forward right door in the space where the Star sticker would be. Maybe one of the folks who works for US here knows what that is about, but there is no recent photo of 515AU at least on a.net.

All in all I found the Toronto airport experience relatively hassle-free for an 'international' trip,' with the US pre-clearance and such, and I am thinking of going back for a weekend as this was midweek conference trip. It will be really cool if Porter gets to do LGA-YTZ, neat little airport and I had dinner at CN Tower watching planes land there...

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Originally Posted by Nonstop2AUH

All in all I found the Toronto airport experience relatively hassle-free for an 'international' trip,' with the US pre-clearance and such, and I am thinking of going back for a weekend as this was midweek conference trip. It will be really cool if Porter gets to do LGA-YTZ, neat little airport and I had dinner at CN Tower watching planes land there...

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It would be cool if Porter and the Q400 goes to LGA. It's been mentioned a couple of time here, and I suggested back when they started operating the this could happen:

http://www.nycaviation.com/forum/viewto ... ght=porter

http://www.nycaviation.com/forum/viewto ... ght=porter

I love the CN Tower. It's almost like being in a control tower that's over 1000 feet up. http://static.flickr.com/48/142173172_eefaf01e2c_m.jpg

I'm also planning on going to Toronto the weekend of Feb 3 to see the Ansel Adams exhibit.

Your right about YYZ the place is a ghost town. Half the new gates are empty and the rental car counters are closed, you have to use the one's outside. Its a very nice airport but I was in awe of the amount of empty gates.

It's a good place to spot passenger A310s because Air Transat still operates several, and also to spot Canadian charter airlines not often seen in the US like Skyservice


Any photos from there? Let's see them! I love seeing those 310s!

Sorry folks, no pics. I am not a great photographer, especially compared to some of you guys here, and currently I am camera-less. If someone recommends a good, small digital camera I will perhaps try my hand.

YYZ in any event seems a bit bleak this time of year, so while the spotting would be fun I think most pics would have a washed out kind of background. Probably not so downtown, because the island airport is in itself very picturesque. Sure hope Porter gets an NYC route going but I know there's already been some opposition to their existing services, and I guess it would be costly to put in a customs facility.

In addition to the CN Tower, another good view of YTZ is from Canoe on top of the TD building, they have a nice bar with some chairs that face right out the window onto the lake. Place is quite well known locally, a bit trendy even, but not easy to find. My local friend took me and even she initially went into the wrong building!

YTZ is already an airport of entry. http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/contact/listing/o ... 812-e.html

The problem is actually on the destination side. YTZ is not a pre-clearance post, and LGA doesn't have Customs available for scheduled services.

Mateo- Thanks for clearing that up, I guess the US customs situation heavily favors an EWR service then (I don't think they were looking at JFK). Not so convenient as LGA on the face of it, but if the heavy users of the the NYC-TO shuttle are the bankers then perhaps it works because EWR seems to be the preferred airport of folks that work in either lower Manhattan or west midtown (i.e. proximity to Holland and Lincoln Tunnels). Will be interesting to see if/how this works out.

Uplander, is that the Avro Arrow?

That is the Avro Arrow.

Good eye :-)

Very cool airplane that most of us south of the border know very little about. Someday I am going to visit some Canadian aviation museums, I read somewhere that at least one of them has a restored Arrow on display.

The museum up here in Ottawa has an original nose section.

More interesting info here.