Toronto Port Authority Updates Airport Master Plan for Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport

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Toronto (December 1, 2014) – An updated version of the Master Plan for the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is now available for reference on the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) website. The Master Plan was first submitted in draft to the City of Toronto, and made available to the public on the City’s website in December 2013, in order to provide information required for the City Staff Report on Porter Airlines’ proposal to introduce new-technology jet aircraft at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The updated version now available on the TPA website reflects additional information in such areas as the airport vision and capital infrastructure plan.

 

An airport’s Master Plan is a long-term, non-regulatory, planning document which serves to create a framework for the efficient operation, development and growth of an airport. This includes, but is not limited to, such areas as airport vision, runways, taxiways, airport support facilities, fuel handling, land use, passenger activity, infrastructure requirements, and environmental/community impacts.

 

Development of the Billy Bishop Airport Master Plan commenced with stakeholder engagement in July 2011 and was provided in draft to City staff and the public in December 2013. Ongoing discussions with City staff and various stakeholder groups have led to updates in the areas of capital infrastructure and long-term vision for the airport. The objective of the Master Plan is to provide a framework to guide the Billy Bishop Airport in meeting the long-term needs of airport stakeholders, while at the same time providing a vision of the airport that could be made available to the community and signatories of the Tripartite Agreement.

 

All information contained in the updated Master Plan available on the website relates to activities and operations currently approved under the Tripartite Agreement. More specifically, the Master Plan guides the current operations of the airport and does not contemplate potential scenarios linked to a runway extension nor the introduction of new-technology jet aircraft as put forward by Porter Airlines in its April 2013 proposal.

In a Toronto City Council decision on April 1, 2 and 3, 2014, specific to a review of the Porter Proposal, Council requested that the TPA develop a scenario, based upon its Master Plan, that contemplates the introduction of new-technology jet aircraft at Billy Bishop Airport and reports on the changes that would take effect at the airport in relation to this scenario, including passenger numbers and infrastructure development. This 2015 Master Planning Exercise, though theoretical, is understood to be an important component in assessing the Porter Proposal and its impacts.

 

As such, the TPA is currently developing this 2015 Master Planning Exercise with a view to releasing this document in the next six to eight months. The 2015 Master Planning Exercise will involve public engagement and will be developed in coordination with other initiatives linked to the Porter Proposal, such as an Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Runway Design, to ensure each project informs the others and the end result is inclusive of all relevant factors and outcomes.

 

The updated and final Master Plan for Billy Bishop Airport can be accessed here. For more information on the Environmental Assessment (EA) commissioned by the Toronto Port Authority please visit www.BBTCARunwayEA.org or click here.

For more than 100 years the Toronto Port Authority has worked with its partners at the federal, provincial and municipal levels to enhance the economic growth of the City of Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. The Toronto Port Authority owns and operates Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, which welcomes more than two million passengers each year, the Outer Harbour Marina, one of Canada’s largest freshwater marinas, and Terminals 51 and 52, which provide transportation, distribution, storage and container services to businesses at the Port of Toronto. The Toronto Port Authority is committed to fostering strong, healthy and sustainable communities and has invested more than $5.6 million since 2009 in charitable initiatives and environmental programs that benefit communities along Toronto’s waterfront and beyond. TPA operates in accordance with the Canada Marine Act and is guided by a nine-member board with representation from all three levels of government.

 

Erin Mikaluk

Senior Manager, Communications & Media Relations

Toronto Port Authority

Tel: (416) 863-2065

Cell: (647) 298-0544

E-mail: [email protected]