Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , also known as Toronto Island Airport, is an airport of entry located on the Toronto Islands, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The airport primarily serves short-haul flights to destinations across Canada and the United States by Air Canada and Porter Airlines. The airport is one of nine Canadian airports that contain United States border preclearance facilities. Situated close to downtown Toronto, it is one of two airports with scheduled airlines located in the Toronto area, alongside the primary Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is operated by the federal Toronto Port Authority corporation.
The airport is used by civil aviation, air ambulances, and regional airlines using turboprop planes. Its operations are supported by user fees added to tickets and various government subsidies. In 2025, it was ranked Canada's 12th-busiest airport. The airport's name honours Billy Bishop, the Canadian World War I flying ace and World War II Air Marshal.
Opened in 1939 as the Port George VI Island Airport, for much of its history it has operated mainly as a small civil aviation airport operated at a subsidy. This changed with the introduction of a new corporation to operate the facility as a self-sufficient enterprise that has consistently advocated for expansion. In its recent history, the airport has been controversial locally, being a major issue in municipal politics. Its operator and the City of Toronto have been involved in several disputes and a planned expansion, including a bridge to the airport, were cancelled. To support its expanded role, a new passenger terminal and pedestrian tunnel have been built. In 2026, the Ontario government announced plans to introduce jets at the airport, and expropriated municipal lands in advance of any plan. However, after an online survey that showed and 80% opposition rate to the idea, the Government of Canada announced it would not support the proposal, leaving it to some future time.
Description The airport is located on the Toronto Islands, south-west of downtown Toronto. The airport has one main east–west runway, a shorter runway 20 degrees off, and a seaplane base, Billy Bishop Toronto City Water Aerodrome. The airport is used for scheduled short-haul airline service and for general aviation, including medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) flights (due to its proximity to downtown hospitals), small charter flights, and private aviation. Under its operating agreement, jet aircraft and certain propeller aircraft are banned from the airport, with the exception of MEDEVAC flights. There is one passenger terminal at the airport, built in 2010. The airport property is approximately in size.
The airport is operated as a division of the Toronto Port Authority (TPA), a federal corporation, which also manages Toronto Harbour. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The CBSA officers at the airport can handle aircraft with up to 90 passengers. The airport also has a United States border preclearance facility. The airport's hours of operation are 6:45 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., except for MEDEVACs and emergencies. The airport's hours are governed by the 2003 update of the Tripartite Agreement, which set the hours of operation. Airfield crash fire rescue and EMS are provided by the Billy Bishop Airport Emergency Response Service, backed up by Toronto Fire Services and Toronto EMS.
The airport is accessible from a pedestrian tunnel at the foot of Eireann Quay, which is free to use. From a pavilion on the mainland end, a pedestrian tunnel and a tunnel for sewage and water mains connect to the airport. The pedestrian tunnel has moving sidewalks, with elevators at both ends. On the island side, an escalator serves patrons. A consortium known as Forum Infrastructure Partners, composed of firms Arup, PCL and Technicore, designed, built, financed and maintains the tunnel.
A ferry operates between the same location and the airport every 15 minutes from 5:15 a.m. to midnight (the 5:15 ferry is for airport staff; airline passengers can begin crossing at 5:30). A free shuttle bus service operates between the intersection of York Street and Front Street and the airport. There is a taxi stand at the dock. Short-term and long-term parking is available at the dock and on the island. There is no curb-side parking. The 509 Harbourfront streetcar line, which connects to the subway, serves the intersection of Bathurst Street and Queens Quay, one block north of the ferry dock.
The airport imposes a "airport improvement fee" departure tax on each passenger boarding scheduled flights.
Since 2015, Billy Bishop has participated in customer surveys with the "Airport Service Quality Survey" of Airports Council International. In March 2017, the airport was named the "Best Airport in North America" in two categories based on 2016 surveys.
In 2019, the airport was ranked 124th in the world, and worst in Canada by AirHelp, which based its rankings on on-time performance, quality of service and food and shops. On-time performance was rated only 5.8/10, while the airport received 8.1/10 for service and 7.0/10 for food and service.
History
1930s–1940s The first proposal to build an airport was made in June 1929 by the Toronto Harbour Commission. The commission proposed a four-stage plan, starting with an "air harbour" for seaplanes, while the final stages proposed filling the then-regatta course lagoon between the sandbar and Hanlan's Point. Toronto City Council at that time agreed to the "air harbour" but "in no way—either by implication or suggestion—implies approval of the ultimate development of a combined air harbour and airport."Toronto City Council minutes of June 19, 1929, as quoted in Gibson, p. 177 In August 1935, Council reversed its position and approved the airport project by a vote of 15–7, against the opposition of Toronto mayor Sam McBride (who was serving as a Councillor at the time). City Council received approval from the Government of Canada to spend $976,000 ($ in dollars) on a tunnel under the Western Gap. That fall, after construction began, a federal election was held and William Lyon Mackenzie King was elected as prime minister. King's government reversed the previous government's decision and cancelled the tunnel.
Trans-Canada Air Lines was expected to begin operations in 1937, so in November 1936, City Council (without McBride, who died days earlier) formed an "Advisory Airport Committee" to advise on where to build a municipal airport. The committee proposed several locations and of these two were approved by the Government of Canada, which agreed to fund one-quarter of the project. The two sites were the Island and Malton, north-west of Toronto. A seaplane and land airport would be built at the island, and an auxiliary field was to be built at Malton. The project would fill in the regatta lagoon and extend the airport site on both the east and west sides. After two days of debate, City Council voted 14–7 to approve the construction of both airports.
The site of the airport had been home to Hanlan's Point Stadium, numerous cottages, Hanlan's Point Amusement Park and the regatta course. The 54 cottages and their cottagers were moved to today's Algonquin Island (then named Sunfish Island). The seaplane base was first used in 1938. The paved runways and the terminal building were opened in 1939. In April 1939, Toronto Council voted to name the airport Port George VI Island Airport to commemorate an upcoming visit by King George VI in May 1939. The first commercial passenger flight to the airport was a charter flight carrying Tommy Dorsey and his swing band for a two-day engagement at the Canadian National Exhibition on September 8, 1939 operated by a Douglas DC-3.Bigger, Better and Busier Airliner World August 2018 pages 60-65 It was also the first airliner from the United States to arrive in Toronto. A 48-person cable ferry service was inaugurated to the airport.
During World War II, the island airport became a military training base. From 1940 until 1943, the Royal Norwegian Air Force used the island airport as a training facility. Barracks were built nearby on the mainland at the foot of Bathurst Street. The nearby Little Norway Park is named in remembrance of the Norwegian community around the airport. For the duration of the war, the airport was used by the Royal Canadian Air Force for training pilots and as a waypoint for transporting planes. After the war, the airport returned to civilian uses. Flying clubs and several aviation companies set up at the airport, offering services such as aircraft rentals, air freight, charter flights, pilot training and sight-seeing flights.
1950s–1960s By the end of 1952, the accumulated cost of running the island airport, and paying the interest on the debt of construction, totalled $752,000 ($ in dollars). Toronto Mayor Allan A. Lamport, one of the original supporters in 1937 of building the island airport, began a renewed effort, along with the Harbour Commission, to expand the airport, hoping to make it profitable. He pushed for a deal to turn over Malton Airport to the Government of Canada in exchange for improvements at the island. The Government of Canada was amenable to the deal and expanding the island airport, and installed an air traffic control system in 1953, but no comprehensive agreement was yet made. An agreement was reached in July 1955, but an impasse arose between the governments over the terms of the agreement. The impasse was settled in 1957. Runway construction began in 1959 and was finished in 1960.
By 1956, takeoffs and landings at the island reached 130,000 per year, many of them private flights to Muskoka and Haliburton. In July 1960, the airport recorded its millionth movement (take-off or landing) since air traffic control was installed in 1953. The Toronto Flying Club's move to the island from Malton in 1960 caused a large increase in traffic. For 1961, the airport recorded 212,735 movements, of which 168,272 were for local traffic, including student flights. By number of movements, the airport was the busiest in Canada. The cost of operating at the island airport forced the club to close and sell its 12 planes after less than a year, however.
The airport improvements, including a new hangar, the new main runway, and night-time landing lights, were completed in 1962. The new lights allowed the first use of the airport for night-time flights since World War II when Norwegian flyers practised night-time flights. Night-time flights began on April 15, 1963, and the airport extended its closing hour from one half-hour before sun-down to midnight. The Government of Canada spent $3,118,500 on the improvements ($ in dollars).
In January 1964, the cable ferry was retired, replaced by the Harbour Commission tugboat Thomas Langton. That year, interest by municipal government officials was renewed in a new link to the airport. Takeoffs and landings had declined from the 1961 peak to 189,000 in 1962 and 187,000 in 1963, despite the addition of night-time capability. The decline was attributed to two factors: the limited access and poor service the ferry provided and the opening of the Buttonville Municipal Airport north of Toronto in 1962. The City of Toronto, spurred by Lamport, wanted the Government of Canada to provide a better ferry or a lift bridge. The Metropolitan Toronto (Metro) planning department studied a proposal to build a bridge, although full automobile access was opposed by the Metro Commissioner of Parks, Tommy Thompson, whose department was converting the islands to parkland. The Maple City, capable of carrying vehicles and passengers, took over the ferry service in March 1965.