A centrally located, city airport is critical to Toronto’s continued growth and ambitions, states a new report published by PortsToronto and authored by respected urbanist and University of Toronto Professor, Dr. Richard Florida.
The report, titled, Toronto’s Downtown Airport: A Powerful Economic Asset in the City’s Urban Core, notes that city airports, like Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, support businesses, provide connectivity and unlock opportunities that make a city world class. These airports also have a key role in building knowledge economies, playing a critical role in the circulation of people and ideas.
PortsToronto, which published the report, manages Billy Bishop Airport.
“The report comes at a time when both Toronto and its downtown airport are at an inflection point,” officials said. “Both are emerging from the pandemic, and as thought goes into what the needs of Toronto will be in the coming decades, consideration should also be given to the role Billy Bishop Airport can play in building the global city that Toronto aspires to be.”
“Billy Bishop is central to Toronto’s prosperity,” said Florida. “It brings tourists and much needed revenue to the city and its urban core, which are still recovering from the pandemic.
“More importantly, it provides a direct gateway to leading cities such as New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Chicago, bolstering Toronto’s role as a global talent and tech hub.”
The report is available here and highlights the numerous benefits that Billy Bishop Airport brings to Toronto, including:
* Providing the city with a unique competitive advantage, placing travellers close to the downtown commercial centre and its cultural amenities — threatened as they are by the shift to remote work and decreased office occupancy.
* Billy Bishop Airport is among the largest providers of good, high-paying blue-collar jobs for city residents and workers – jobs that are otherwise declining and in increasingly short supply. Airports also generate significant demand for local services, which in turn create more and better jobs for lower-paid service workers in surrounding retail establishments, hotels, and office facilities.
* Billy Bishop Airport is projected to have added roughly $3 billion dollars to Toronto’s economy in 2022, up from $2.1 billion in 2019, and an amount which is expected to grow to nearly $4.8 billion by 2025.
* According to a 2022 survey, 85 per cent of Toronto residents “agree” that “Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is a valuable asset for the entire city”. A majority of Torontonians also agreed that Billy Bishop Airport is a good use of land (82%); that it makes sense to have an airport downtown (85%); and that the airport plays a central role for business, health care, and job creation for the city (78%).
Both Air Canada and Porter Airlines fly out of Billy Bishop Airport.
