Premier Doug Ford has promised “whisper jets” that would be quieter than the current turboprop planes that fly out of Billy Bishop airport on Toronto Island, as part of his broader plans to expand air traffic downtown.
“We’re going to do everything we can to reduce the noise, but we’re looking for convenience for people as well,” Ford told reporters earlier this week. “A lot of people don’t want to be driving up to Pearson … give people an option.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Olivia Chow has opposed bringing jets to the island airport. “Jets are noisy,” she said. Efforts to bring jets to the island failed in 2015, when the federal government refused to allow them under the tripartite agreement that governs the airport.
Experts say that bringing jets to the airport will undoubtedly bring some additional disruption to the surrounding neighbourhoods, depending on what kind of jets will be allowed and how frequently they might run.
Just how quiet can jets get?
Despite advancements in technology over the past decade, aviation expert John Gradek said, “There’s no such thing as a ‘whisper jet.’”
Jets, like Porter’s current fleet of Embraer E-2 jets and Air Canada’s A220s — that Gradek believes Ford was referring to — are “not any noisier” than the current planes that fly out of Billy Bishop, but also “not any quieter.”
“When those jets start to wind up, they are noisy,” said Gradek, a professor in aviation management at McGill. “Unless you put them in an enclosed pen with high walls, people will hear these jets.”
Colin Novak, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Windsor who’s researched airplane noise, agreed. Even though the E-2 jets are quieter than bigger commercial planes that fly out of larger airports, if the plan is to run planes more frequently, there will be more disruption for nearby residents, he said.
With more takeoffs and landings at Billy Bishop, Novak said jets will “increase the annoyance (for nearby residents) because it’s not just the noise level … with additional air traffic, you’re going to get additional passenger traffic coming and going from the airport — cars dropping people off, picking them up, perhaps more frequent crossing of the channel with the ferry.”
Can we dampen the noise?
London’s City Airport, which would be comparable to an expanded Billy Bishop, has heavy restrictions on jets, both the kind of planes that fly into the U.K. airport and the hours that air traffic is allowed. In addition, Novak explained, City Airport has agricultural land on its approach, which absorbs sound rather than amplifying it like Toronto’s waterfront would.
Lake Ontario could help with the noise, but also make it worse.
“The noise will actually hit the water and reflect, and then propagate further away in all directions, including towards the land. So there can be an increase of at least three decibels from that reflection of the noise off of the water,” Novak said, a noticeable increase.
Besides using quieter planes and limiting operating hours, Gradek said the only way to fully dampen the noise would be with a 10- to 12-foot-high wall along the length of the runway.
“Unless you put them in an enclosed pen with high walls, people will hear these jets,” Gradek said. Novak agreed, adding, “I would say the wall would probably have to be even taller than that.”
Jets that could be powered with electric fan engines could be used, but Novak said that is about 25 years away from being available or viable.
What about the air?
If more planes were to fly out of Billy Bishop another concern would be an increase in air pollution.
That’s because planes, even the current turboprop planes that run out of island airport, emit ultrafine particles that have wide-ranging health effects, said Greg Evans, a chemical engineering professor at U of T.
He and a team of researchers from U of T conducted a study in 2019, prompted by concerns from the Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association, that found the airport was a source of air pollutants.
Researchers at McGill University found that ultrafine particles, which can also be produced by road vehicles, were associated with a 7.3 per cent increase in the risk of nonaccidental deaths.
Just how much worse it could get “is an unknown,” said Evans. Again, it depends on what kind of jets are flown out of Billy Bishop and how frequently they fly.
“How are they going to address the existing issues and then make sure that it’s not getting substantially worse when they add jets?” Evans asked.
“There’s reasons why it should (be expanded) and there’s certainly red flags that go up as to why we might not want to do this,” Novak concluded. “I just think it needs to be looked at and studied appropriately. The impacts have to be fully realized and communicated.”
