Feds to spend $30M on U.S. preclearance facility at Billy Bishop

The Government of Canada is investing up to $30 million to build a new preclearance facility at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) for U.S.-bound travellers, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra revealed Friday (June 30).

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (U.S. CBP) will build capacity for Toronto's growing business and leisure passenger volumes transiting through Canada's largest city, Ottawa says. 

The federal contribution builds on investments made by PortsToronto.

The government says the new facility will provide important benefits to Canadians and the air sector by increasing security and connectivity for business and leisure travellers.

It will also reduce airport congestion and transportation bottlenecks and improve the overall fluidity and capacity in the transportation system, the government says.

"The investment in the new United States preclearance facility for the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport will provide travellers in the Greater Toronto area more options when flying to the United States and will support the reduction of airport congestion,” said Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra. “Investing in this facility is great news for the airport and for Canadians!"

The facility will take between 18-24 months to complete and, once constructed, will provide Billy Bishop passengers with the opportunity to clear customs in Toronto, rather than having to clear customs upon landing at U.S. airports.

Preclearance will also open up new markets to the U.S., as travellers can now access smaller U.S. airports that do not currently have U.S. CBP, and therefore cannot accept travellers that have not been precleared.

There are currently 15 US CBP preclearance locations in six countries around the world including Canada. Eight Canadian airports currently offer preclearance, with Billy Bishop becoming the ninth such facility.

Billy Bishop is the ninth busiest airport in Canada and the fifth busiest serving U.S. markets. The downtown airport on the Toronto Islands welcomes roughly 450,000 U.S. passengers per year.

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