Toronto’s downtown airport will soon offer preclearance of immigration and customs for passengers traveling to the United State. The Canadian government will invest up to $30 million in the construction of facilities to support smoother arrivals for travelers headed to the United States.
Today’s announcement of a new US preclearance facility at Billy Bishop Airport is a major step towards helping our tourism industry soar to new heights. By streamlining the entry process for international travelers, we send a strong message that Canada is open for business, adventures, and unforgettable experiences.
– The Honourable Randy Boissonault, Canada’s Minister of Tourism
With preclearance travelers are screened by US officers prior to departure rather than upon arrival. It allows for airlines to offer service to more airports on the US side, including those which do not have immigration facilities at the commercial airline terminals (e.g. New York’s LaGuardia Airport).
Roelef-Jan (RJ) Steenstra, President and CEO of PortsToronto which operates the airport adds, “Preclearance will also provide access to more US markets which will boost connectivity and bilateral trade and tourism between Toronto and the eastern US. This will have a tremendous economic impact on the city in terms of GDP, jobs and attracting talent. We are incredibly pleased and proud to confirm preclearance at the airport, and look forward to working with our partners to commence work immediately to have the facility open in 2025.”
The new facility will be a big win for Porter Airlines which operates significant transborder services from Billy Bishop (YTZ). It is at a competitive disadvantage to the operations across town at Toronto’s Pearson (YYZ) for some of the traffic because of limits on where it can fly and timing for travelers. Connect Airlines would also benefit, assuming it manages to commence its services to Billy Bishop Airport. Timing for the long-awaited launch of that offering remains unclear.
Billy Bishop will join eight other Canadian airports, as well as Aruba; Nassau, Bahamas; Bermuda; Dublin; Shannon; and Abu Dhabi in offering the service.
The announcement of this project builds on an agreement between the US and Canadian governments from 2016 to increase the airports within Canada that offer the preclearance services. Around that same time several other airports around the world also indicated interest in offering preclearance facilities. This is, however, the first notable progress on those efforts.
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