Downsview Airport | |||||||||||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
Airport type | Defunct | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Bombardier Aerospace | ||||||||||||||||||
Operator | Bombardier Ops | ||||||||||||||||||
Serves | Greater Toronto Area | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | Downsview, Toronto, Ontario, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1929 | ||||||||||||||||||
Closed | April 2024 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Time zone | EST (UTC−05:00) | ||||||||||||||||||
• Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC−04:00) | ||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 652 ft / 199 m | ||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 43°44′34″N079°27′56″W / 43.74278°N 79.46556°W | ||||||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Canada Flight Supplement [2] |
Downsview Airport( IATA : YZD, ICAO : CYZD) is a now-closed airport located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. An air field, then air force base, it has been a testing facility for Bombardier Aerospace from 1994. In 2018, Bombardier sold the facility to Northcrest Developments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board; in late 2023, Northcrest announced that industrial and airport operations would close by mid-2024, as redevelopment into commercial and residential properties moves forward. [3] The airport was closed as of April 2024. [1] On 17 August 2024, Northcrest Developments unveiled a new identity for the 1.5 km2 (370 acres) of the former Downsview Airport lands drawing on the site’s history: YZD, as the transformation kicks off. [4]
Downsview Airport had its own fire service (Bombardier Aerospace Emergency Services) which covered airport operations (using two airport fire rescue vehicles) and plant operations (using two SUV emergency vehicles). Bombardier Emergency Services employees were cross-trained as firefighters, first responders and airport security.
de Havilland Airfield [5] or Downsview Airfield [6] opened in 1929 by de Havilland Canada, the Canadian division of the British aerospace company, de Havilland as a general aviation airfield and one of two airports in the area apart from Pearson Airport for testing aircraft at the site manufacturing plant. The airfield was expanded as a military installation during World War II by the Royal Canadian Air Force and renamed RCAF Station Downsview, now CFB Toronto.
Downsview Airport was developed in 1939 as an airfield next to an aircraft manufacturing plant operated by de Havilland Canada. In 1947, the Department of National Defence purchased property surrounding the airfield and expanded it, creating RCAF Station Downsview to provide an air base for Royal Canadian Air Force units. The base was renamed Canadian Forces Base Toronto (Downsview) in 1968 and retained this name until its closure in 1996.
From 1998, the property was administered by a civilian Crown corporation, officially known as Parc Downsview Park, which co-managed the airfield with Bombardier Aerospace (the successor to de Havilland Canada).
The airfield was used to host the 1984 and 2002 papal visits by Pope John Paul II, as well as to host the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto concert headlined by The Rolling Stones to revive the local economy after the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003.
The airfield has also served as a test site for several famous aircraft produced by de Havilland and Avro Canada, including the Beaver, the Twin Otter, and the Dash 8. The airport was available to pilots only with prior permission.
Bombardier Aerospace at one time owned twelve hangars in the southwest corner of the airport, where the Dash 8 was built and assembled. The Bombardier Global Express and the variant Global 5000 were also assembled here at the Downsview plant, as were the wings and wingboxes of the Learjet 45. The Bombardier CSeries jet had landed at the airfield in 2015, but is assembled in Montreal.
The airport had one operational runway, 15/33 at 7,000 ft (2,100 m) with a parallel taxiway. Runway 09/27 at 3,164 ft (964 m) was previously closed (east section removed), as was runway 04/22 at 4,000 ft (1,200 m) (north section removed and south part retained as taxiway into the Bombardier plant).
Bombardier has an agreement to sell the Downsview Airport and its manufacturing plant to Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). Under the agreement, Bombardier can use Downsview for up to five years. Bombardier signed a lease agreement with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority to build a new facility at Pearson Airport on 38 acres (0.15 km2; 15 ha) where it would move the production of its Global series planes. [7] Plans for Dash 8 production were not announced at that time. In November 2018, Bombardier sold the Dash 8 business and the DeHavilland name to Viking Air, which has not disclosed its long-term plans for Dash 8 production beyond the existing already agreed-upon time frame for Downsview. [8]
On 11 June 2022, a private event was held at Downsview Airport, commemorating the farewell of De Havilland Canada after 94 years at the airport. Many past and present employees and their families were invited to attend. The event featured showcases of various de Havilland Canada aircraft, with some arriving and departing from the airport during the occasion
A series of homes were built for Canadian Forces personnel at the corner of Keele Street and Sheppard Avenue West and at the south end of the base property. Access to the north end housing on Robert Woodhead Crescent and John Drury Drive was restricted to base personnel and fenced off from the neighbouring properties. After the military base being closed down, the housing was abandoned and torn down.
In May 2024, Northcrest Developments took control of the site, following Bombardier's relocation to a new facility. On 17 August 2024, Northcrest unveiled a new identity for the site, naming it YZD, a nod to the former airport code and honouring the site’s legacy of innovation. The $30-billion CAD transformation of the 1.5 km2 (370 acres) site will unfold over the next 30 years. The project includes the creation of seven new neighbourhoods, encompassing over 2.6 km2 (28,000,000 sq ft) of residential space, over 0.65 km2 (7,000,000 sq ft) of commercial and cultural spaces, and approximately 0.30 km2 (74 acres) of parks, green, and open spaces, including the 2.1 km (1.3 mi) reimagined Runway. The Runway will become the anchor of the community as a pedestrianized open space, while the hangars will be retrofitted to house new commercial and cultural ventures. Upon completion, YZD is expected to accommodate over 55,000 residents and create 23,000 jobs. [9] On 26 September 2024, United States-based Live Nation Entertainment confirmed that Rogers Stadium will debut at YZD in June 2025. [10] The new stadium will be an open-air concert venue with a stated capacity of 50,000, and according to Billboard Canada is "one of the world's few venues of the size that isn't also home to a sports team." [11]
Buildings located within or next to the airport:
Former tenants
Most of the roads at Downsview are city-owned roadways:
...operator of their intention to cease operations as of April 2024.
Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer CSeries. It also manufactured the Bombardier 415 amphibious water-bomber, and currently makes the Global Express and the Challenger lines of business jets.
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Downsview is a neighbourhood in the north end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. The area takes its name from the Downs View farm established around 1842 near the present-day intersection of Keele Street and Wilson Avenue. It now extends beyond the intersection of Sheppard Avenue and Dufferin Street, though it is popularly seen as including the areas to the north right up to the Toronto city limit at Steeles Avenue. The area includes several large post-World War II subdivisions. Within the area is Downsview Airport, the former site of Canadian Forces Base Downsview, which has since been largely converted following the end of the Cold War into an urban park known as Downsview Park. The airport is still used as a manufacturing and testing facility for Bombardier Aerospace. As of the 2021 census, the Downsview-Roding-CFB neighbourhood was split into the two neighbourhoods of Downsview and Oakdale–Beverley Heights.
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De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (DHC) is a Canadian aircraft manufacturer that has produced numerous aircraft models since its inception including the popular Dash 8. The company's primary facilities were located in the Downsview area of Toronto, Ontario for many years; in 2022, it was announced that it would relocate primary manufacturing to De Havilland Field, under development near Calgary, Alberta. The aircraft types currently in production or planned for production include the DHC-6 Twin Otter, DHC-8 Dash 8, and DHC-515 Firefighter.
The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. Variants were built with 50–54 seats. It first flew in 1975 and remained in production until 1988 when the parent company, de Havilland Canada, was purchased by Boeing in 1986 and later sold to Bombardier. In 2006 Bombardier sold the type certificate for the aircraft design to Victoria-based manufacturer Viking Air.
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Downsview Park(French: Parc Downsview) is a large urban park located in the Downsview neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park's name is officially bilingual due to it being federally owned and managed, and was first home to de Havilland Canada, an aircraft manufacturer, and later was a Canadian Forces base. The park still contains Downsview Airport. In 1999, the Government of Canada declared it as "Canada's first urban national park". However, unlike the Rouge National Urban Park in eastern Toronto, Downsview Park is managed by the federal Crown corporation Canada Lands Company rather than Parks Canada.
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400 "City of Toronto" Tactical Helicopter and Training Squadron is part of 1 Wing, and as such a lodger unit of Canadian Forces Base Borden. The squadron operates the CH-146 Griffon.
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