CYTZ
Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport
MVFR
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Name
Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport
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ICAO / IATA / GPS
CYTZ / YTZ / CYTZ
- Type
- Restriction
- Region
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Timezone
2:16 pm (EST)
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Municipality
Toronto
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Coordinates
43° 37′ 38″ N 79° 23′ 46″ W
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Elevation
252 ft (77 m MSL)
About Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport
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 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 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.