The Premier of Ontario says the province will take over a share of control of an airport in downtown Toronto with an eye to extending the runway and allowing passenger jets to land there. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is reminiscent of the former Meigs Field in Chicago in that it occupies an island steps away from downtown. It is run by a tripartite committee made up of the Canadian federal government, the city of Toronto, and the Toronto Port Authority. Ford said the provincial government wants a seat at that table and will take over the city’s spot.
In 2003 the current governing structure decided to ban jets (except medevac flights) from the airport over noise concerns, but Premier Doug Ford says it’s time to invite them back with an expanded facility that can move more people through Canada’s largest city. There are dozens of flights a day from Billy Bishop on turboprop regional airliners, but Toronto’s main airport, Pearson International, is about 15 miles north of the city and getting there can be a challenge with all the traffic.
“This is a crown jewel,” Ford said. “We’re one of the largest cities in North America. Other cities like New York and Chicago have two airports and this is an economic driver, it’s going to create competition.” The existing main runway is 4,000 feet long and is being lengthened to include safety areas. Ford wants that expansion to be big enough to accommodate small jet airliners and claims that the majority of Torontonians support that.
Nice job, Russ. Sadly, nowadays, whenever government bodies in North America undertake to expand an airport, it is newsworthy.
A government entity using reason and logical thought! That is a foreign concept unfamiliar to U.S. citizens. No pun intended, unfortunately.
While I would love to see Billy Bishop expanded, Doug Ford primarily uses reason and logical thought to fill his own pockets.
Sorry, Dave. I should have thought it through before posting. I guess American politicians don’t have a corner on the corruption market.
Some of Toronto’s Central Islands were built or added to by waste materials so lengthening the main runway by 1500 feet shouldn’t be a major problem. This makes good sense as there are frequent ferry connections and no traffic congestion. I think the three governments can scrape up enough money to make this work. We’ll see.
One of the coolest airports in North America.