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106-612: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport ( IATA : YTZ , ICAO : CYTZ ) is a regional airport located on the Toronto Islands in Toronto , Ontario , Canada . It is often referred to as Toronto Island Airport and was previously known as Port George VI Island Airport and Toronto City Centre Airport . The airport's name honours Billy Bishop , the Canadian World War I flying ace and World War II Air Marshal . It

212-401: A CA$ 16 million bridge and CA$ 2 million in runway upgrades. A bridge was started but cancelled by Toronto City Council in 2003. By 2005, the airport recorded only 68,000 flights annually, down from a historic high of 800,000 in 1987. The only carrier operating at the airport was Air Canada affiliate Air Canada Jazz, operating flights between Toronto and Ottawa. In 2006, Jazz was forced out of

318-692: A new major airport in Pickering, Ontario . At the same time, the Government of Canada initiated a feasibility study of converting the island airport to a major airport for Short Takeoff and Landing ( STOL ) planes. Later that year, the Harbour Commission announced plans for an aquatic park on the Outer Harbour headland, the location in the 1968 plan for the relocated island airport. In 1973, de Havilland Aircraft of Canada , makers of

424-660: A bridge in 1998. In 1999, the THC was renamed the Toronto Port Authority (TPA). The Authority was expected to manage the port more like a business. A review of the airport operations concluded that the airport "is not sustainable and will likely lead to continued financial losses." Passenger volumes had declined to 140,000 annually from a peak of 400,000 in 1987. The consultants concluded that if services were upgraded to include small jets, that possibly 900,000 passengers could be carried annually by 2020. The report proposed

530-476: A cost of CA$ 8 million . THC's plans were initially opposed by Toronto City Council, but after the THC threatened to close the airport, an agreement was reached. Council agreed to a bridge on condition of continuing the 'no jets' ban, and that it not be built with Toronto tax dollars. After the City of Toronto was amalgamated, the plan was re-opened and a tunnel proposed instead, but the new Toronto City Council approved

636-468: 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

742-523: A figure for a proposed passenger cap on the facility. Council informed the TPA that it sought a maximum figure of 2.4 million, regardless of whether jets are implemented, while the TPA suggested an interim cap of 2.976 million, and deferred agreeing to a permanent cap figure. The TPA issued Requests For Proposals to private firms to conduct the EA and preliminary runway designs. In April 2015, Air Canada, also

848-548: A full redevelopment of the islands, whereby a residential development, entitled Harbor City , would be built on the existing island airport lands, and a new airport with a runway long enough for jets would be built on a peninsula parallel to the south shore of the Toronto Islands. This plan also outlined the development of a new harbour, the Outer Harbour east of the Eastern Gap. The plan was later modified to situate

954-618: 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 4,000 ft (1,219 m) main runway, and night-time landing lights, were completed in 1962. The new lights allowed

1060-427: A licence to City Centre Airways to operate Dash 7 planes between the island, Ottawa and Montreal. In 1983, the City of Toronto, the THC, and the Government of Canada signed a tripartite agreement over operation of the airport. The agreement, in force until 2033, leases the land for the airport at a rate of $ 1 per year. The majority of the airport land is owned by the Government of Ontario with two small sections owned by

1166-594: A maximum number of flights or passengers at the Island Airport; it does, however, establish noise exposure parameters that are not to be exceeded (NEF 25), thus effectively providing restrictions on the number of flights." The number and type of flights are to stay within the Noise Exposure Forecast (NEF) 25 exposure level to neighbours. The agreement was amended in 1985 to specifically allow the new de Havilland Dash 8 , small 37–39 seat planes at

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1272-454: 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

1378-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

1484-536: A new terminal, moving out of trailers. That year, the airport was renamed the Toronto City Centre Airport. The Toronto Harbour Commission made plans to expand the airport so as to achieve self-sufficiency, as it was dependent on subsidies from the City of Toronto and had transferred much of its land to the City in exchange for an ongoing subsidy. In 1992, the THC proposed to build a bridge to the airport for safety reasons and as an improvement, at

1590-473: A peak of over 200,000 annual flights in the 1960s. Although regional airlines were introduced in the 1970s, the annual number of flights went into decline and closure was discussed. In 1983, a 50-year tripartite agreement between the Government of Canada, the City of Toronto government and the Harbour Commission, which limited noise and banned jet use for scheduled airlines, allowed airport operations to continue. In

1696-492: A plan to provide daily scheduled airline service between the airport, Ottawa and Montreal, using de Havilland Dash 7 STOL planes. The Government of Canada would invest $ 5 million in improvements at the airport including a covered moving pedestrian sidewalk linking the airport with Lake Shore Boulevard. The plan was rejected by Toronto City Council, and the Canadian Transport Commission turned down

1802-562: A price; Bloomberg, however, reported a possible sale price of more than CA$ 750 million . Public records indicated that Scotiabank held a mortgage of CA$ 650 million . In June 2016, a three-year project to update the runways at the airport began and was completed in October 2018. The project repaved runways 06/24 and 08/26 and upgraded the electrical and lighting systems. The airport has now decommissioned runway 15/33, due to its lack of use and operational restrictions. It will be converted into

1908-513: A replacement for the island airport had not been agreed upon. A 1969 proposal to build a new airport by the new headland was met with opposition from local residents and Toronto City Councillors and was dropped. With plans uncertain, the Government of Canada requested that the Harbour Commission continue to operate the airport as is in the interim. In 1972, the Harbor City project died when the governments of Canada and Ontario proposed to build

2014-423: A taxiway. In October 2016, PortsToronto approved a 27,000 square feet (2,500 m) expansion of the terminal, including a new gate, and room for US Customs preclearance if it is approved in the future. In April 2013, Porter announced a conditional purchase of 12 Bombardier CS100 passenger jets, with an option to purchase 18 more. Porter president Robert Deluce announced that the airline would seek an extension of

2120-418: A three-times a day service between the island airport and Montreal's international airport. 1975 was also the year that the island airport was used as the base for Olga , a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane helicopter used to dismantle the crane of the new CN Tower under construction and hoist sections of its new antenna into place on top of its concrete tower. In April 1978, Transport Minister Otto Lang announced

2226-576: 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

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2332-407: A user of the airport, stated that it was opposed to the introduction of jets at the airport. "Air Canada's position on this matter is crystal clear. We do not support jets at Billy Bishop," said Derek Vanstone of the airline. Air Canada commissioned a study that concluded that the expansion would cost CA$ 1 billion in public expenditure. In March 2015, PortsToronto released preliminary information on

2438-455: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

2544-617: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

2650-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

2756-671: Is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

2862-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

2968-591: 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. By

3074-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

3180-416: Is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to patients requiring evacuation or transport using medically equipped air ambulances , helicopters and other means of emergency transport including ground ambulance and maritime transfers. Examples include civilian EMS vehicles, civilian aeromedical helicopter services, and military air ambulances. This term also covers

3286-579: Is used by civil aviation , air ambulances , and regional airlines using turboprop planes. In 2022, it was ranked Canada's ninth-busiest airport . Conceived in the 1930s as the main airport for Toronto, the construction of the airport was completed in 1939 by the Toronto Harbour Commission (THC). At the same time, the THC built Malton Airport as an alternate. But nearby Malton (today Toronto Pearson International Airport ) became Toronto's main passenger airline hub instead, leaving

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3392-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

3498-551: 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

3604-630: The CA$ 5 million ferry precipitated a conflict-of-interest investigation of TPA director Colin Watson, who is a self-described friend of Deluce's, and who voted in a 5–4 decision to approve the ferry. Watson was cleared of the charge by the federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson in June 2009. The new ferry, named Marilyn Bell I (the name was chosen after a public naming contest), went into service on January 22, 2010. At its annual meeting on September 3, 2009,

3710-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

3816-471: 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

3922-471: 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." 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 ($ 21 million in 2023 dollars) on

4028-402: The 1990s, in an era of government cost-cutting, questions about the airport's future were raised again due to its annual deficit. At the same time, redevelopment was taking over north of the airport and several studies suggested that the airport was incompatible with development. In 1999, the new Toronto Port Authority (TPA; renamed in 2015 as "PortsToronto") replaced the THC. The TPA's mandate

4134-542: 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 240 m (800 ft) 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

4240-593: The CS100 noise information, Transport Canada regulations, and Toronto Port Authority requirements. The report also noted that the airport does not have a "Master Plan" unlike other airports, and staff suggested is essential for consideration to extend the tripartite agreement. The plan is to be discussed by the City Council executive committee and full Council in December 2013. The board of Waterfront Toronto endorsed

4346-400: The CS100 would have been quieter compared to the existing turboprop aircraft currently used at the airport. On December 8, Ports Toronto announced it would not complete the expansion proposal reports for Council, ending work after any current technical studies were complete. In 2015, a pedestrian tunnel to the airport was opened, after a previous plan to build a bridge was cancelled. A tunnel

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4452-558: The City of Toronto. The TPA announced that it would await the direction of Toronto City Council on the potential expansion. A new community group "NoJetsTO" was formed to collect opposition to the plan to allow jets at the airport. The City of Toronto started consultations in September 2013, both online and at "town hall" sessions, to produce a report from staff for presentation to Council. As consultations began, Porter increased its request to 200 m (660 ft) extensions at each end of

4558-457: The Government of Canada and a small section owned by Toronto. The agreement made provisions for a restricted list of aircraft allowed to use the airport due to noise levels, prohibitions on jet traffic except for MEDEVAC flights and prohibition against the construction of a fixed link between Toronto Island and the mainland. According to the Tassé report: "The Tripartite Agreement does not directly set

4664-404: 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

4770-414: The TPA announced that it would rename the airport after William Avery "Billy" Bishop, a Canadian First World War flying ace. The proposal drew criticism from TPA critics such as Adam Vaughan , charging "the port authority is putting together a "feel-good story" to prevent people from asking tough questions about how the island airport is governed." On November 10, 2009, after approval from Transport Canada,

4876-499: The TPA announced that it would spend CA$ 8 million on upgrades to the airport. The upgrades included a new CA$ 2.3 million Equipment Maintenance Building, apron paving, equipment upgrades and a noise barrier to deflect plane maintenance noise out over the lake. The expense would be recouped from the Airport Improvement Fee charged to passengers. In February 2010, Air Canada filed suit against the TPA to get access to

4982-453: The TPA launched the larger David Hornell ferry in 2006. The Maple City ferry became the back-up. In January 2009, it was announced that the TPA would purchase a second, larger ferry to support Porter's activities. The ferry was financed out of the airport improvement fee charged to passengers. The ferry had been proposed by Porter CEO Robert Deluce to the TPA's Board of Directors over the period of March–June 2008. The decision to approve

5088-485: The TPA officially renamed the airport to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport . It is the second airport in Canada, after Owen Sound Billy Bishop Regional Airport , to be named for Bishop. The airport continued to be listed in aeronautical publications and weather reports as Toronto City Centre Airport, until February 11, 2010. In the September 17, 2009, La Presse newspaper, Air Canada president and CEO Calin Rovinescu

5194-430: The TPA. Porter launched in 2006 and passenger volumes increased to the point that airport operations became self-sufficient by 2010. In 2010, Porter opened a new terminal. In 2015, a pedestrian tunnel to the airport was opened, after a previous plan to build a bridge was cancelled. In 2013, Porter proposed expanding the airport further and modifying the operating agreement to allow it to use Bombardier CS100 jet planes at

5300-497: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Medical evacuation Medical evacuation , often shortened to medevac or medivac ,

5406-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

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5512-420: The airport by REGCO, the terminal owners, which announced a new Porter Airlines regional airline. Porter began regional airline service with flights to Ottawa in the fall of 2006 using Q400 series Dash 8 planes, 70-seat aircraft. Its entry into service was met by protesters who attempted to block passengers from the airport. Airport traffic increased to over 93,000 takeoffs and landings in 2008. To support Porter,

5618-527: The airport can handle aircraft with up to 90 passengers. The airport does not have United States border preclearance , although this has been approved by both Canada and US governments. The airport's hours of operation are 6:45 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., except for MEDEVAC flights. 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

5724-520: The airport had reached $ 300,000 per year ($ 1.8 million in 2023 dollars), $ 130,000 of it in operating the Maple City ferry. The City of Toronto decided to ask the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada to cover the deficit. After study by the Toronto, Metro, Ontario and Canadian governments, the Government of Canada agreed to grant an annual subsidy to the Harbour Commission to operate

5830-536: The airport if the expansion plans and jets are approved for use at the airport. In April 2014, Toronto City Council voted to defer approval of the plan, voting 44–0 to defer and wait for the Port Authority to produce plans for the airport. The Council refused to support spending any City money on the proposal. Council ordered the Port Authority to produce an environmental assessment (EA), preliminary runway design and updated airport master plan, as well as produce

5936-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

6042-496: The airport received 8.1/10 for service and 7.0/10 for food and service. 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

6148-424: 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 baseball 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

6254-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

6360-562: The airport, access it had lost when Porter had evicted Jazz in 2006. On March 29, 2010, the Federal Court ruled that Air Canada would have a hearing in July 2010 of its objections to the TPA process. On March 7, 2010, the first half of the Porter's new terminal opened. The new terminal, estimated to cost CA$ 50 million , was completed in early 2011. The opening of the new terminal was met by new protests by Community Air activists protesting

6466-419: The airport, while the Government of Ontario agreed to pay for the costs of the airport ferry. The Government of Canada put a condition on the subsidy, that intergovernmental agreement needed to be reached on the future of the airport. Agreement on the future of the airport would take several years. In January 1975, Otonabee Airways launched the first scheduled passenger service at the airport. Otonabee operated

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6572-503: The airport, with the exception of MEDEVAC flights. There is one passenger terminal at the airport, built in 2010. The airport is operated as a division of PortsToronto (formerly 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

6678-455: The airport. The proposal, estimated to cost CA$ 1  billion in public expenditure, went to PortsToronto for further study. In November 2015, after the 2015 Canadian federal election , the new government announced that it would not re-open the tripartite agreement to allow jets. Ports Toronto subsequently cancelled the expansion proposal studies. The airport is accessed via ferry or the 260-metre (850 ft) pedestrian tunnel that connects to

6784-412: The annual operating deficit (the cost of operating the airport minus revenues collected) of the airport had reached $ 200,000 ($ 1.55 million in 2023 dollars). Toronto mayor William Dennison warned that the airport could be closed as the Harbour Commission did not want to absorb the amount. At the time, the island airport site was to become the site of the Harbor City residential development, although

6890-434: The building started in November 2011. By April 2012 the terminal building had been moved from its original location and was temporarily residing on the grass to the south of runway 24. In 2014, the TPA announced that it would move the terminal closer to Hanlan's Point and turn the facility into a restaurant for the general aviation community at the airport. In January 2015, Porter Airlines Holdings and City Centre Terminal sold

6996-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

7102-408: The end of 1952, the accumulated cost of running the island airport, and paying the interest on the debt of construction, totalled $ 752,000 ($ 8.32 million in 2023 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

7208-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

7314-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

7420-416: 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 ($ 30.4 million in 2023 dollars). In January 1964, the cable ferry was retired, replaced by

7526-425: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

7632-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

7738-408: The impact of jets as part of a Master Planning Exercise. The study envisioned that the runways would be extended by 200 m (660 ft) at either end (to a total length of 1,658 m (5,440 ft)). The number of daily slots would increase to 242 from 202; the number of passengers would increase from two million to four million annually; aircraft movements would increase from 114,000 to 138,000;

7844-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

7950-554: 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 $ 29 airport improvement fee surcharge on each passenger boarding scheduled flights. Since 2015, Billy Bishop has participated in customer surveys with

8056-469: The island airport for general aviation and military purposes. During the 1940s and 1950s, several political leaders proposed an expansion of the island airport to enable scheduled passenger airlines and reduce the annual operating costs. Malton was sold in 1962 to the Government of Canada in exchange for an expansion and improvements to the island airport. After the expansion, civil flights increased to

8162-434: 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

8268-508: The islands to parkland. The Maple City , capable of carrying vehicles and passengers, took over the ferry service in March 1965. In 1967, the Harbour Commission initiated a study into converting the airport into one suitable for the passenger jets of the day, such as DC-8s . The island airport runways were too short for jets, so a new airport would have to be built on new land reclaimed from Lake Ontario. The commission developed this further into

8374-415: The main runway by 336 m (1,102 ft), 168 m (551 ft) at either end, to accommodate the longer landing and takeoff requirements of the aircraft. The airline would also seek an exemption for the CS100 aircraft from the jet ban at the airport imposed in the 1983 Tripartite Agreement of the airport. The changes would require the agreement of the Government of Canada, the Toronto Port Authority and

8480-509: The mainland. 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 regional airline service and for general aviation , including medical evacuation flights (due to its proximity to downtown hospitals), small charter flights, and private aviation . Under its operating agreement, jet aircraft are banned from

8586-526: The marine exclusion zone around the runways would expand in width by 10 m (33 ft) to 25 m (82 ft); and the peak number of passengers at one time would grow from 944 to 1,761. The proposal would also include a jet blast barrier and a potential noise barrier. PortsToronto released the terms of reference for its environmental study in August 2015. Under the tripartite management agreement, all three signatories must agree to re-open it; without one,

8692-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

8798-653: The new DHC-7 (Dash 7) STOL plane, proposed a network of STOL airports around Ontario, with the Island Airport as its hub, to the Government of Ontario cabinet ministers and the Government of Canada cabinet ministers. The first versions of the Dash 7 could support flights from the island to smaller centres, such as Sarnia, Kingston, Peterborough and Owen Sound, with a larger version able to support flights to larger centres such as London, North Bay, Ottawa and Windsor. The island airport, which operated under visual flight rules, would have to be upgraded to instrument flight rules to operate

8904-480: The new island airport on the Outer Harbour headland, east of the islands, with road access available from the Gardiner Expressway south along Leslie Street . The Government of Canada ruled out the waterfront site for a major airport early in 1970, although Transport Minister Donald Jamieson suggested there would be some sort of expanded airport serving "short-hop, inter-city" flights created. By 1970,

9010-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

9116-434: The passenger terminal to a consortium known as Nieuport Aviation Infrastructure that includes InstarAGF Asset Management, an alternative-investment manager, Kilmer Van Nostrand Co, an investment firm controlled by Larry Tanenbaum , the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment , Partners Group , a Swiss private equity firm, and institutional clients advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management . The buyers did not disclose

9222-521: The plan stating that the airport's services were not satisfactory and required upgrading. Art Eggleton was elected Toronto mayor and a compromise was reached in 1981, when the City of Toronto agreed to a limited level of commercial STOL passenger service, and the exclusion of jet airplanes. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the THC, the City and Transport Canada , and in 1982, the Canadian Transport Commission issued

9328-542: The proposal cannot proceed. In November 2015, after the federal election that saw the Liberal Party of Canada return to power, the new transport minister Marc Garneau announced that the government would not re-open the tripartite agreement to allow the expansion. Porter Airlines and Ports Toronto had hoped that the government would not follow through on its promise and asked for the Government of Canada to wait until studies were complete. Pratt & Whitney stated that

9434-428: The proposed increase in flights. In 2011, Air Canada Express (operated by Sky Regional) began flying again out of the island airport. In July 2011, an agreement was reached between the City and the Port Authority to enable construction of a pedestrian tunnel connecting the airport. Included in the agreement was the provision that the original 1939 airport terminal building could be relocated for future use. Dismantling of

9540-439: The report, stating "serious transportation, road congestion, and community impact issues created by the airport's current operations" be addressed before any new plans are considered. Executive committee of Council agreed to defer its consideration of the proposal until January 2014. In January 2014, the Toronto Port Authority announced that it would seek CA$ 100 million from the Government of Canada to expand infrastructure around

9646-399: The runway. The Toronto Port Authority notified the City of Toronto that it was seeking an extension to the tripartite agreement beyond 2033 as a condition of the runway extension plan. The staff report was released to the public on November 28, 2013 and staff recommended putting off consideration of the plan until 2015, due to incomplete information and the various unresolved issues, including

9752-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

9858-407: The service. De Havilland also proposed a bridge to the island airport over the Western Gap. The Government of Ontario was interested in the proposal, and asked the Canadian government to work towards development of STOL. Ontario Intergovernmental Affairs Minister John White characterized "regional air service in southern Ontario as totally deficient." By 1974, the annual operating deficit of running

9964-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

10070-527: The time, which are not considered STOL planes. In 1984, Air Atonabee, (as Otonabee Airways had been renamed in 1980) was re-organized into a new regional airline known as City Express. From 1984 until 1991, City Express continued and expanded its operations at the airport, peaking at 400,000 passengers annually in the mid-1980s. In 1990, Air Ontario (later to become Air Canada Jazz ) started operating regional airline service to Ottawa and Montreal. That year, City Express folded in bankruptcy. In 1994, Jazz built

10176-571: The transfer of patients from the battlefield to a treatment facility or from one treatment facility to another by medical personnel, such as from a local hospital to another medical facility which has adequate medical equipment. In Asia, according to Aeromedical Global (M) Sdn Bhd, medical evacuations via air ambulance can be performed via a single or dual stretched setup. According to patients medical condition, Emergency Air Ambulances will be equipped with relevant equipment (ventilators, Portable O2 Concentrator etc). The first medical transport by air

10282-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

10388-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

10494-506: 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 '

10600-614: Was by 2nd Lt Carter Harman , in Japanese-held Burma , who had to make several hops to get his Sikorsky YR-4B to the 1st Air Commando Group 's secret airfield in enemy territory and then made four trips from there between April 25 and 26 to recover the American pilot and four injured British soldiers, one at a time. The first medivac under fire happened in Manila in 1945 when five pilots evacuated 75-80 soldiers one or two at

10706-503: Was first proposed to connect to the island airport in 1935. A tunnel was started, but cancelled and filled in. Since 1938, a car ferry has provided service to and from the airport. In 1997, Toronto City Council approved a bridge to connect to the island airport. In 2003, Council cancelled the bridge after Toronto Mayor David Miller was elected on a platform to cancel the bridge. The Port Authority bought two new car ferries instead. IATA airport code The assignment of these codes

10812-579: 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. It

10918-419: Was quoted as saying that the term of exclusivity for Porter at the airport ends in 2010 and that Air Canada is considering a return to the airport in 2010, if acceptable terms can be arranged. Later in September, Jazz chief executive officer Joseph Randell reiterated the comments stating that it intended to restore service as early as April 2010. Passenger traffic increased 46% from 2009 to 2010. In January 2010,

11024-581: Was recorded in Serbia in the autumn of 1915 during the First World War . One of the ill soldiers in that first medical transport was Milan Rastislav Štefánik , a Slovak pilot-volunteer who was flown to safety by French aviator Louis Paulhan . The United States Army used this lifesaving technique in Burma toward the end of World War II with Sikorsky R-4B helicopters. The first helicopter rescue

11130-414: 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

11236-429: Was to make the port and airport self-sufficient and it determined that the airport needed to expand to end the annual subsidy. Although an expansion of the airport was and is politically controversial, the TPA has worked with new regional airline Porter Airlines since 2003 to increase scheduled carrier flights. Under the new financial model, carriers pay landing fees and departing passengers pay airport improvement fees to

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