Billy Bishop airport, Canada's ninth-busiest, reports 17.5% increase in 2023 passenger traffic as travel extends rebound

Billy Bishop Toronto CIty Airport, the downtown airfield that handles regional flights on turboprops, reported a 17.5% increase in annual passenger traffic as travel continued to rebound from the pandemic.

The number of passengers passing through the airport climbed to 2.036 million in 2023 from 1.732 million in 2022, Jessica Pellerin, Billy Bishop's manager of media relations and public affairs, said in an email. The airport remained Canada's ninth-busiest after Halifax Stanfield International Airport, which served 3.579 million people in 2023. Passenger traffic at Billy Bishop was below the 2.800 million high reported in both 2017 and 2018.

Billy Bishop, known colloquially as the "island" airport because of its location on land 800 feet off the shore of Lake Ontario, is banned from serving passenger jets. The airport's main tenant is Porter Airlines, which flies to a dozen Canadian cities and several U.S. destinations using De Havilland Dash 8-400 turboprops. Porter also began operating from the city's main airfield, Toronto Pearson International Airport, in early 2023 using Embraer E195 E2 jets.

Pearson, Canada's busiest aviation facility, is one of the few major airports that hasn't reported its passenger traffic for 2023. In 2022, Pearson served 35.6 million people. Billy Bishop is named for a World War I Canadian flying ace.

--HBB

The biggest: Nova Scotia's top real estate deals of 2023

November 30, 2023 marked a historic day for Nova Scotia real estate: the $370 million purchase of Halifax Shopping Centre went through as perhaps the highest-priced provincial property deal ever.

The buyer was Primaris, a Toronto-based real estate investment trust that is one of Canada's largest mall operators. The seller was Ontario Pension Board, which manages $31 billion for provincial employees.

The sales price is the largest in the provincial database of Nova Scotia real estate transactions. The database goes back only to July 2010, however, and HBB is therefore unable to say with absolute certainty that the shopping-centre deal price was a record.

The year's second-biggest transaction was the $90 million acquisition by Toronto-based Align Student Housing REIT of a 141-unit rental complex near Dalhousie University from Werkliv, a Montreal-based developer led by Daniel Goodfellow. The No. 3 deal was Ontario-based Skyline Real Estate Holdings Inc.'s $69.5 million purchase of the Brookside Terrace Apartments from a partnership including Cresco Properties Ltd. and Shaw Living. Next was the Kanellakos family's $58.3 million acquisition of 18 Halifax sites on or near Robie Street between Cobourg Road and South Street. The seller was listed as George Tsimiklis.

Cresco Holdings Ltd., an affiliate of Cresco Properties, made the list at No. 7 for a Bedford transaction that has stirred controversy. Critics are questioning the motives of public officials in what Nova Scotia Auditor General Kim Adair called an "unusual arrangement,"after the province bought an unfinished hotel with plans to convert it to a health-care facility. AllNovaScotia, an online news service, reported Feb. 14 that the $34.4 million Hogan Court transaction "was costly to the public," citing the auditor general.

Killam Apartment REIT, Atlantic Canada’s largest landlord, figured in two transactions during 2023. One was the $33 million sale of the James, a 108-unit apartment building on South Street in Halifax, to the Trihopoylos family's Olympus Properties Management. Killam's second divestment involved property outside the HRM, with the 87-unit Cabot House apartments on Kings Road in Sydney selling for $14.5 million to Adam Barrett's AMK Barrett Investments.

1

Halifax Shopping Centre

$370 million

Date: November 30, 2023

Buyer: Primaris REIT

Seller: OPB Realty Inc. (Ontario Pension Board)

2

1402 Seymour Street, Halifax

$90 million

Date: January 17, 2023

Buyer: Align Student Housing REIT

Seller: Werkliv GP Inc., general partner of Seymour LP, (Daniel Goodfellow, president)

3

118 Tilbury Avenue, Bedford

$69.5 million

Date: November 9, 2023

Buyer: Skyline Real Estate Holdings Inc. (Jason Castellan, Martin Castellan, Roy Ashdown, directors)

Seller: Tilbury Apartments GP Ltd., as general partner of Tilbury Apartments LP (whose limited partners include Cresco Properties Ltd. and Shaw Living Ltd.)

4

Robie Street parcels, Halifax

$58.3 million

Date: February 28, 2023

Buyer: 4479072 Nova Scotia Ltd. (James Kanellakos et al., directors)

Seller: George Tsimiklis

5

49 Brookline Drive, Bedford

$40 million

Date: September 6, 2023

Buyer: 49 Brookline Drive Ltd. (Geoffrey Wayne Squibb, president, and principal, Realstar Group)

Seller: Brookline Luxury Suites GP Ltd. (Victor Kielbratowski, president)

6

7 Mount Hope Avenue and 11 Mount Hope Avenue, Dartmouth

$38.5 million

Date: March 27, 2023

Buyer: Province of Nova Scotia

Seller: Advantage Food Equipment Ltd. (Darren Godbout, president)

7

Hogan Court, Bedford

$34.4 million

Date: February 1, 2023

Buyer: Province of Nova Scotia

Seller: Cresco Holdings Ltd. (Taleb Abidali, president)

8

5620 South Street, The James, Halifax

$33 million

Date: April 21, 2023

Buyer: Olympus Properties Management Ltd. (John Trihopoylos, president)

Seller: Killam Investments Inc.

9

95 Wyse Road and 99 Wyse Road, Dartmouth

$31 million

Dates: June 16, 2023, and June 19, 2023

Buyer: Edifice Place Metropolitain Inc./Place Metropolitan Building Inc. (Vincent Chiara, president)

Seller: Canadian Property Holdings (Nova Scotia) Inc. (Choice Properties) and 9182071 Canada Inc. (Canada Mortgage & Housing Pension Fund)

10  

Albro Lake and Primrose portfolio, Dartmouth

$26.8 million

Date: July 5, 2023

Buyer: AMK Barrett Investments Inc. (Adam Barrett, president)

Seller: Strategic Atlantic Ltd. (Riaz Mamdani, president)

11

Three-building portfolio, Halifax

$22.1 million

Date: May 1, 2023

Buyer: Oikos Management Co. (Jimmy Karountzos, president)

Seller: Doric Management Co. (Stratos Karountzos, president)

12

101 Ochterloney Street, Dartmouth

$20.4 million

Date: June 1, 2023

Buyer: Capreit Apartments Inc.

Seller: Boris Holdings Inc. (Dean Hartman, president)

13

694 Broad Street, Bedford

$18.9 million

Date: November 14, 2023

Buyer: Shannex RLC Ltd. (Joseph Shannon, chairman and chief executive)

Seller: BYN Properties (The Highbury II) Ltd. (Gerardus Nowee, president)

14

75 Brookline Drive, Bedford

$16.7 million

Date: April 19, 2023

Buyer: Cresco Holdings Ltd. (Taleb Abidali, president)

Seller: West Bedford Holdings Ltd. (Jason Brunt, president; directors include Taleb Abidali)

15

535 Portland Street, Dartmouth

$16.4 million

Date: September 15, 2023

Buyer: Opal Ridge Developments Ltd. (Jason Brunt, president)

Seller: Penhorn Residential Holdings GP Ltd. (Crombie REIT)

16

5991 Spring Garden Road, Halifax

$16 million

Date: November 15, 2023

Buyer: 5991 SGR Ltd. (Alex Halef, president)

Seller: Northwest Healthcare REIT

17

Airport Parcels at Aerotech Drive, Goffs

$16 million

Date: September 11, 2023

Buyer: Aerotech Developments LP (Jason Brunt, Clayton Developments)

Seller: Parkdale Developments Ltd., (John Fiske, president)

18

CFC Climate Canada Parcels

$15.1 million

Dates: March 28, 2023, and March 31, 2023

Buyer: CFC Climate Forest Canada Inc.

Seller:  Mayflower Forestry Ltd.

19

3000 Monaghan Drive, Halifax

$14.5 million

Date: April 14, 2023

Buyer: Monaghan Square South GP Ltd. (Moray Tawse and Robert Margeson, directors)

Seller: Mayflower Curling Club

20

500 Kings Road, Sydney

$14.5 million

Date: November 2, 2023

Buyer: AMK Barrett Investments Inc. (Adam Barrett, president)

Seller: Killam Properties Inc.

Sources: Property Valuation Services Corp. and Nova Scotia Property Online

--HBB

Halifax Stanfield fell back in 2023's airport passenger rankings

Halifax’s move up the ranks of Canada’s busiest airports was short-lived.

Stanfield International Airport came eighth in passenger traffic in 2023, down from the No. 6 spot in 2022, when it vaulted airfields in the much bigger cities of Ottawa and Winnipeg. Passenger growth at Stanfield slowed to 15.2% in 2023 and, like most Canadian airports, remained below the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Stanfield’s 2023 growth rate was the slowest of Canada's 10 busiest airports.

“Airports across the country have been recovering at different rates from the impacts of the pandemic for various reasons,” said Leah Batstone, the airport’s communications and marketing advisor. “Airlines have been making strategic decisions about their air-service recovery that sometimes involve reallocating (aircraft and crews), adjusting strategic plans, and building services gradually to meet demand.”

At Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, the No. 6-ranked airport, passenger traffic surged 36.9% in 2023 but was 19.8% below 2019 levels. At Winnipeg Richardson International Airport, which ranked seventh, passenger traffic surged 35.1% and was 8.7% below 2019 levels. Stanfield’s 2023 passenger traffic was 14.5% below 2019.

Stanfield expects passenger traffic to rebound further this year to about 4 million from 2023's 3.58 million, Batstone said, which would represent a gain of 12%, but still be below the 4.2 million passengers served in 2019. Stanfield's passenger traffic last year slightly exceeded the Halifax International Airport Authority’s forecast of 3.5 million, Batstone said.

Batstone noted that European passenger traffic was up 3.8% in 2023 from 2019, and that international traffic will be bolstered this year by increased services to Europe and the U.S. starting in the summer.

Passenger traffic at Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest flight hub, rose 19.6% to 40.3 million in 2023. The increase was 30.9% at Vancouver International Airport, the No. 2 airport, to 24.9 million, and third-ranked Montreal-Trudeau International Airport gained 32.3% to 21.1 million.

--HBB