Toronto City Airport

Air Canada is considering ceasing flights out of Billy Bishop Airport in downtown Toronto amid a continuing push to gain more access to the waterside operation.

“While Air Canada’s traffic and load factor at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport increased in 2014 over the previous year, as part of its continuing cost transformation initiatives, Air Canada is assessing the viability of Billy Bishop operations based on current imposed terminal rates and terms,” the airline said in a statement.

The airport is owned and operated by the Toronto Port Authority, but its largest user by far is Porter Airlines.

Porter’s domination of the airport and the limits placed on take-off and landing slots have led Calin Rovinescu, Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada to criticize the airport as a “private playground.”

Air Canada offers 15 daily flights out of Billy Bishop, which permits only turbo-prop services, less than 1% of Air Canada’s total daily 1,500 flights across Canada but very high profile.

A proposal by Porter to fly jets out of the airport and extend the main runway has led to a heated debate in Toronto about its future.

Porter has made a conditional purchase of the yet to be certificated Canadian-built Bombardier CSeries which, it is claimed, will meet current noise guidelines.   www.torontoport.com/airport.aspx

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