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| Rex Tang |
As promised to you, here is an update of my position and new
life in Toronto.
Life is great in Toronto! The city is extremely lively
and busy, just like the type of city I would like to live in. It got a
mixture of the busy work style like in Asia and New York, modern and
traditional European style architectures, and a great Canadian pride.
The Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport has a unique
operation, making it convenient for passengers to fly from the heart of
downtown Toronto. All passengers have access to Porter Airline’s
complimentary lounge where drinks and snacks are served, regardless of which
airline the passenger is flying with. The airport is on an island and so
access to the airport terminal requires am 800m long ferry ride, both for
passengers and vehicles. Construction of an underground tunnel is currently underway, and by next September, access to the airport will be via the
tunnel’s moving walkway. If interested, the following link shows an
animation of the expected access flow: http://www.bbtcatunnelproject.ca/
My position as a Pass Control & Administration Assistant
with the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) handles both airport pass applications
and financial reports/invoices on various airport fees. Because this is a
much smaller scale operation (though it is the 9th busiest Canadian
airport in terms of passenger flow), there is only one pass control
station. Appointments are held in an office room setting, unlike larger
airports where pass control offices can handle multiple applicants at a
counter. The room setting makes it easy to connect and generate great
conversations with all staff at the airport. The most interesting
conversations tend to be the flight stories of flight crews. The
administration side of things deals with Excel spreadsheets, financial software
and occasionally payroll. With the small number of staff, I was also
assigned an EOC role in the case of a large scale emergency. We just had
a live tabletop exercise on Wednesday and it was a great experience to learn
from other responding agencies for better collaboration. The attached
photo was taken during a hangar lunch event hosted by Porter Airlines; TPA
staff were invited. The model plane beside me is the newest jet aircraft
by Bombardier, the Cseries, which will come into service starting end of next
year.
Hope everyone is doing well and let me know if you have any
questions!
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