Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport receives $14-million federal investment for pandemic recovery

Canada's Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra announced a $14-million dollar investment for Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Friday as the travel industry continues to grapple with the pandemic’s devastating impact.

“These funds will help the airport recover from the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic and support continued air services in crucial infrastructure projects,” Alghabra said at the news conference.

From the $14 million, $11 million will be dedicated to repairing electrical infrastructure for airfield equipment, upgrading the airport security systems, repairing the waterfront retaining walls, maintaining airfield pavement and replacing airport security fencing and gates.

This follows the federal government’s loosening of travel restrictions set to drop the requirement of a negative pre-entry COVID-19 test result to enter Canada by air, land or water next month.

After an 18 month period of suspended services, the executive vice president of PortsToronto and Billy Bishop Gene Cabral said 74 per cent of their activity reached pre-pandemic levels last month.

“As we come through the storm that we've endured from a pandemic perspective we're starting to see a recovery and we believe Billy Bishop will be at the front and center of the recovery from an economic perspective,” Cabral said.

A year ago, the owner of Billy Bishop was looking for a private sector investor to operate the downtown island airport in order to reduce the airport's overall debt and ensure the airport's long-term viability.