For years Toronto waterfront residents, concerned about airplane noise, have been assured that no jets would fly from the city’s island airport. So anger, and even a sense of betrayal, are understandable in the slipstream of a Porter Airlines bid to use jets here. That, however, doesn’t mean these jets are a bad idea.

On the contrary, there’s a sound case to be made for Porter’s proposed expansion and it mainly comes down to, well, sound.

Robert Deluce, Porter’s president and chief executive, aims to broaden his airline’s reach to places like Los Angeles, Vancouver and destinations in the Caribbean. To do that Porter needs bigger, longer-range aircraft than the 80-passenger turboprop planes it operates now. That’s why Deluce is proposing to buy 12 Bombardier CS100 jets, with an option to add 18 more, and run them out of the airport.

Waterfront residents’ fear of this flying has been further heightened by a need to lengthen the existing runway by 168 metres, at either end, using earth and rock dumped into Lake Ontario.

That prompted Councillor Adam Vaughan to warn of environmental risk from “paving the lake.” But the threat posed by filling in this bit of water is hard to take seriously. In fact, Toronto’s downtown waterfront rests almost entirely on lakefill — including the high rises where most residents live.

Noise is what really matters. There would be good reason to ground this initiative if the expanded traffic proposed by Deluce meant that waterfront residents, businesses and visitors would be routinely subject to a dish-rattling, ear-splitting wallop from screaming jet engines. But as far as anyone can tell now, that’s not the case.

The Bombardier jets to be purchased by Porter can carry 107 passengers and are said to be about as quiet as the turboprop aircraft operating now. Deluce calls them “whisper jets.” The planes are so new that their first test flight is to take place by the end of June. But if they live up to their billing, and are indeed as muted as their manufacturer claims, it should go a long way towards defusing concern.

True, the new jets won’t be completely noiseless, and there would be more flights. But that wouldn’t be a jarring departure from what’s happening now. Let’s be frank: the waterfront here isn’t a zone of pastoral silence (however much residents might wish it so). Queens Quay is a busy thoroughfare, so is Lake Shore Blvd., and the Gardiner Expressway runs parallel to the lake close to the shoreline. They’re noisy. And these routes, plus what’s now called the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, were all in place well before residents arrived.

Potential benefits of expanding the airport include creation of up to 1,000 new jobs, increased convenience for people who live or work downtown — some within walking distance of Billy Bishop — plus an injection of healthy stimulus for the local economy.

Some issues do need to be resolved before Porter’s plans get the green light. Vaughan and others warn that allowing Bombardier’s new jets at the airport will open a door to all sorts of other, louder aircraft under the continent’s open-skies policy. Research is needed into the seriousness of that threat, and whether some way can be found to keep noisy jets out.

And mainland approaches to the island airport ferry are already congested as taxis and other vehicles jockey for passengers. Without significantly enhanced and streamlined access, that chaos will only worsen as flights increase.

The fate of Porter’s plan to jet into the future ultimately rests with Toronto city council. Federal approval is also required, as well as backing from the Toronto Port Authority, but they are unlikely to object. Convincing councillors is the key, and they have a history of attempting to shoot down island airport expansion. Despite this unfortunate record, if lingering questions regarding Porter’s proposal can be satisfactorily answered its jets should be allowed to take wing.

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