United States Customs & Border Protection (CBP) has Preclearance facilities at select foreign airports, whereby passengers clear customs and immigration prior to boarding their US-bound flight. The intent is that this is supposed to enhance security, and also be a competitive advantage for an airport.
Along those lines, many Canadian airports have US Preclearance facilities. Well, after over a decade in the pipeline, there’s an exciting update today for one of Canada’s unique “city” airports.
Toronto City Airport finally gets US Preclearance
While Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) is the major international airport in the Toronto area, there’s also Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ), which is located much closer to downtown, and which has all-turboprop operations.
Toronto City Airport is all about convenience, with the airport promising that passengers don’t have to arrive that early, thanks to the airport’s much smaller scale. Now the airport can market another feature — as of today (Tuesday, March 10, 2026), Toronto City Airport has a US Preclearance facility.
This is something the airport was working toward for over 10 years, but the project officially started in 2023, and it was built at the cost of $30 million CAD. Keep in mind with these Preclearance facilities, the host country (Canada) foots the bill for construction and some support functions, while the US provides the CBP officers.
Authorities are predicting that with this new Preclearance facility, the airport’s annual economic contribution could increase from $2.1 billion CAD to $5.3 billion CAD, with annual airport tax revenue possibly increasing from $150 million CAD to $215 million CAD (“could” is the key word here).
Here’s how the Canadian government describes the benefits of this arrangement:
Representing an important partnership with the United States Customs and Border Protection, the new preclearance facility will provide important benefits to Canadians and the air sector by:
- Streamlining the travel experience through allowing U.S.-bound passengers to complete the customs process before departure, and proceed directly to connections or their final destinations.
- Enhancing border security and early threat detection by enabling Canada and the United States to collaborate on managing border risks and addressing shared security concerns.
- Supporting economic growth and job creation by increasing the airport’s economic contribution in the region and boosting employment on both sides of the border.
- Strengthening trade and tourism ties by easing cross-border tourism and broader economic activity between Canada and the United States, and opening new opportunities and destinations for Canadians to the United States and connections to other areas abroad.
It’ll be interesting to see how Toronto City Airport evolves
Historically, Toronto City Airport has been dominated by Porter Airlines, through Air Canada has been growing there as well, with both airlines flying De Havilland Dash 8s.
Porter has had no issues operating transborder flights out of Toronto City Airport (with US immigration simply happening on arrival rather than on departure), while Air Canada hasn’t operated those flights.
However, with the US Preclearance facility opening, Air Canada has announced plans to launch four routes to the United States, including to Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), New York (LGA), and Washington (IAD). Porter has already operated transborder flights, but is also increasing its own network.
Anyway, the belief seems to be that adding a Preclearance facility will greatly increase demand for use of the airport, and based on the flights being added so far, airlines seem to agree. I feel rather neutrally about Preclearance facilities, so I always personally have a hard time rationalizing how this drives the decision making process. This also doesn’t seem like the ideal time to expand flights between the two countries, given strained relations.
Another point worth raising is that there has long been talk of extending the runway at Toronto City Airport, in order to accommodate jets. This is something that has the community divided, with some politicians saying it’s only a matter of time until jets are allowed, while others try to block such a development.
Admittedly this is something that has been in the talks for a long time. For example, back in 2013, Porter placed an order for 30 Bombardier CS100 aircraft (now known as the Airbus A220-100). The order had been conditional on the government changing rules to allow jets at Toronto City Airport, but that never ended up happening. Ultimately the airline ultimately on Embraer E195-E2s, but used those to expand out of other airports.
Bottom line
Toronto City Airport finally has a US Preclearance facility, which airport and city officials seem to think will be a game changer, in terms of demand. YTZ is a unique airport, given its proximity to the city, the small size of the field, and its turboprop-only operations, in an era where jets dominate the skies.
It’ll be interesting to see how demand at the airport evolves in the long run, and in particular, if we do ever see the airport expanded to accommodate jets.
What do you make of Toronto City Airport getting a US Preclearance facility?
