Incoming president and CEO of London International maintains they're the 'easy and friendly airport'

The incoming president and CEO of London International Airport, Scott McFadzean, who assumes the role Jan. 31, maintains that they "like to be known as the easy and friendly airport." 

"What we try and target here in London is to be the easy accessible, friendly airport where you do not need as much time," he told CBC News. "It's a lot more convenient that you can just park your car, walk across the ramp. You're in the terminal and you're through security, usually in less than 10 minutes." 

He sees benefit in flying from London versus opting to drive to Toronto Pearson Airport, pointing to things like traffic, parking costs and a lot more waiting around.

McFadzean knows the aviation business well. He's the CEO of the aircraft manufacturer, Diamond Aircraft Canada, and has been for the last five of the 20 or so years that he's been there. 

Come the new year, he'll be succeeding the current head of the airport, Mike Seabrook. 

"Let's face it, through the pandemic, travel has become more challenging in general for everyone," said McFadzean. "And we're certainly looking to take advantage of just making it as easy as possible for people to get back to traveling again and having a very friendly, calm, non-stressful experience." 

Lack of direct flights

The experience may be easier , but there are only six commercial flights a day, all of which go to and from Toronto and Calgary. Unlike before the pandemic, there aren't any direct flights to other destinations.  

One of the issues is that London International isn't on the list of national airports that can accept international passengers.

"Certainly we're going to be focused on getting that international airport designation back, so it allows us to be able to go cross-border on some of those international flights," said McFadzean. 

He explained that airlines and charter operators have said that they'll be resuming flights to the city in January and June of 2022.

"We're certainly going to be focusing on getting more and more flights to as many destinations as possible from this airport," he said.

London resident Brad Builder said that he flies out of London International about once a month right now. In fact, he has a flight from London to Montreal today with a connection in Toronto.

When asked why he chooses to fly through Toronto instead of just driving there, he simply said, "I live in London." 

He said that there were direct flights to such places as Ottawa and Montreal, pre-pandemic -- it's something he'd like to see again, as well as to other destinations.

"Being Londoners, it's nice having the airport," he said. "Before COVID, they were flying directly to the Caribbean, Florida, places like that, and I really hope it comes back."