Billy Bishop & Private Aviation · Markham
Billy Bishop and Private Aviation Transfers from Markham
Billy Bishop is fifty kilometres from Markham and it is still frequently the right airport, because it puts you on the ground in the middle of Toronto rather than beside it. And since Buttonville closed, it is one of the two places York Region private flying went.
There are two different trips on this page and they share very little except the passenger profile. One is the downtown run to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The other is a fixed-base operator transfer for somebody flying privately or on a charter. Both are pre-arranged, both are time-critical in a way that scheduled economy travel is not, and both are ordinary work for three SUVs.
Billy Bishop from York Region
The airport sits on the Toronto Islands at the foot of Bathurst Street, and passengers reach it from Eireann Quay by the pedestrian tunnel under the Western Gap, which replaced the ferry as the default route for most travellers. The ferry still runs. The tunnel is faster and it does not depend on a crossing schedule.
What makes Billy Bishop attractive from Markham has nothing to do with the drive, which is longer than the drive to Pearson in kilometres and often longer in minutes. It is the other end. Check-in is small, screening is quick, and the terminal is a fraction of the size of Pearson's. People routinely arrive twenty or thirty minutes before a flight in a way that would be reckless at Terminal 1. For a same-day return to Montreal, Ottawa, Boston or New York, that arithmetic frequently wins. The airport publishes information for corporate and business travellers on its own site.
The drive is the hard part and it is entirely a Toronto problem rather than a York Region one.
- The DVP is the whole route and the whole risk. From Markham the normal path is the 404 south onto the DVP and down to the Gardiner or the Lake Shore, then west to Bathurst. Southbound between 7am and 9:30am the DVP is the constraint on the region.
- The last two kilometres are slow even when the highway was not. Lake Shore Boulevard, Bathurst Street and the streets around Eireann Quay run through a busy waterfront neighbourhood, and a Blue Jays game, a Rogers Centre event or a weekend at the harbourfront can add fifteen minutes to a trip that was fine until then.
- Yonge is not the answer. Coming down Yonge Street from Thornhill or Richmond Hill feels direct and is almost never faster than the highway.
- Drop-off is tight. Eireann Quay is a short street and it is shared by taxis, rideshares, the airport shuttle and everyone dropping a passenger. It works, but it is not a place to be casual about timing. Billy Bishop publishes its own ground transportation and access information.
- The airport has operating hours. Unlike Pearson, it is not a 24-hour operation, and a delayed evening arrival can land close to the end of the day. That is worth knowing before you book a late return.
Private aviation, and what Buttonville changed
For decades the answer to private flying in Markham was Buttonville Municipal Airport at 16th Avenue and Highway 404. It sat in the middle of the town, it was five minutes from the office parks, and for anybody running a light aircraft or a small charter out of York Region it was the obvious field.
It ceased aircraft operations in 2023. The land is being redeveloped. That removed the one genuinely local option and pushed York Region's private and charter traffic onto the alternatives, which are all a drive away.
Pearson's fixed-base operators. Where most business and charter aviation in the GTA now arrives and departs. The FBOs run their own terminals away from the main passenger buildings — Signature and Skyservice both publish their locations and arrangements. These are separate addresses with separate access, and a chauffeur who drives to Terminal 1 for an FBO pickup has wasted twenty-five minutes of somebody's afternoon.
Billy Bishop. Handles business aviation as well as the scheduled carriers, with the advantage of landing in the middle of the city.
Fields east and north. Oshawa Executive sits at the eastern end of the corridor this service already covers, which makes an Oshawa pickup an ordinary run rather than an expedition.
Why FBO work is different
Private aviation timing does not behave like scheduled aviation timing, and the whole ground arrangement has to allow for that.
- There is no published schedule to track. Departure and arrival times come from the crew, the operator or the handler, and they move. The ground side needs a contact and a willingness to be told at short notice.
- The turnaround at the aircraft is fast. No check-in, no security queue, no baggage hall. Passengers are frequently off the aircraft and out of the door in minutes, which means the car needs to be there already rather than fifteen minutes after the call.
- The address is not the airport. Each FBO has its own entrance and its own procedure, and they are not the passenger terminals. Give the operator name when you book.
- Diversions happen. Private flights change destination more often than scheduled ones. A plan that assumes Pearson and ends up at Billy Bishop needs a phone call, not a new booking process.
- Discretion is part of the job. Names, itineraries and destinations are not discussed. That is stated here plainly because it is a reasonable thing to want confirmed.
Where this fits with the rest of the day
Most private aviation bookings are not standalone trips. Somebody lands at an FBO at 11am, has two meetings on Allstate Parkway and one in Vaughan, and is back in the air at 5pm. That is an as-directed booking with an aircraft at each end, not three separate transfers, and it is priced and planned as one arrangement.
The same is true of the Billy Bishop shuttle pattern. A 7am flight to Montreal and a 7pm return the same day is two trips to the same place, and arranging both at once means the evening leg is a planned collection rather than whatever is available at Eireann Quay at 7:40pm on a Thursday.
The honest limits
Three Audi SUVs, four to five passengers with luggage. A private aircraft carrying eight people needs two vehicles and that needs arranging in advance, not on the ramp. Crew transfers and passenger transfers at the same time are two bookings. And a charter that lands with skis, golf bags or hard cases changes the passenger arithmetic — four people and four golf bags is not the same job as four people and four suitcases. Say what is coming off the aircraft when you book and you get an accurate answer instead of an apologetic one.
Frequently asked questions
Is Billy Bishop worth the longer drive from Markham?
Often, for short-haul business travel. The drive is longer than Pearson and the terminal experience is much shorter, so the total door-to-gate time can favour it, and you land in the middle of Toronto rather than beside it on the way home. For anything transatlantic, anything with checked bags and connections, or anything at a time when the DVP is difficult, Pearson is usually the better answer. Ask on the phone and you will get an honest comparison.
Can you meet a private flight at a Pearson FBO?
Yes. Give the FBO or handler name with the booking, because the fixed-base operators have their own terminals and entrances away from Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, and arriving at the wrong one costs twenty-five minutes. Private flight timings move, so a contact who can confirm the actual time on the day matters more here than it does for scheduled flights.
Where do people fly private from now that Buttonville has closed?
Buttonville stopped aircraft operations in 2023, so the local option is gone. Most GTA business and charter aviation now runs through the fixed-base operators at Pearson, with Billy Bishop handling business aviation downtown and Oshawa Executive serving the eastern end of the corridor. All three are ordinary runs from Markham, and each needs a different door time.
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