$28.9M private jet province bought, plans to sell, could have used only 10% of Ontario airports

Bombardier's technological specifications for its 650 Challenger gush exhibit it requires a space of 5,650 feet to occupy off at its maximum weight, which means it couldn't use the vast majority of airports in Ontario at full capacity, as they have runways shorter than that, according to runway dimension data from NavCanada. (Aviation industry standard is in feet, rather than metres.)

Those limitations raise questions about how the private jet would have helped the premier travel around northern Ontario — one of his justifications for needing the jet — and how the plane would have fulfilled other government uses Ford described at Queen's Park on Tuesday. 

"Sending firefighters up north to fight wildfires, or if we had floods, or if we had to bring people when we evacuate First Nations communities and we had to get them down and we would do that," Ford said. 

"Right now we're chartering planes, and when you evacuate, you want to evacuate the elder, the children. I know it's small, but if you can take two or three trips."

One of the 19 airports is CFB Trenton, a military base. The majority of the other 18 airports with long enough runways operate scheduled commercial flights. Those include international airports like Toronto Pearson, Thunder Bay, Windsor, London, Hamilton and regional airports like Greater Sudbury, Waterloo, and Sault St. Marie. 

Toronto's Billy Bishop airport could not currently handle the Challenger 650 jet at full capacity, with its 3,988-foot runway. Recently, Ford said his government plans to take over the City of Toronto's stake in the island airport to expand the runway and allow jets to fly in and out.

When asked Tuesday about whether there are a lot of places the jet wouldn't have been able to land, Ford said, "Just up in the far, far north where there's dirt runways." 

Runway dimension data shows there are 67 airports in Ontario with a paved (asphalt) runway the Challenger 650 still wouldn't be able to use when flying at full capacity, because they're not long enough for the jet to take off.  

Each flight might not be that cut and dry, however. 

Karl Czekus, an aviation consultant, says the takeoff distance for the Challenger 650 would change if the jet was not carrying its maximum weight.

"If the aircraft is not fully loaded, full fuel, then it can actually land on less runway," he said.

"If you're flying the Challenger with six to nine people and you're not loaded with as much fuel because you're going less distance, well, then you would need less runway."

Czekus said changes to the takeoff distance required would depend on a number of factors specific to an individual flight. 

Most of the Ontario airports with runways that fall short of the Challenger 650's takeoff distance of 5,650 feet at full capacity are more than 1,000 feet shorter.

Other small passenger planes the province already owns can access the majority of Ontario’s airports with their shorter takeoff distance requirements at maximum weight. 

The Ontario Provincial Police purchased a six-passenger Pilatus PC-24 jet late last year, which only needs 3,090 feet to take off. As a result, that jet can fly in and out of 98 more airports in Ontario than the Challenger at capacity, according to runway dimension data. 

"That’s a totally different aircraft — it's capable of landing on gravel air strips. It's able to use shorter runways than the Challenger," said Steffan Watkins, a research consultant who specializes in flight tracking.

Ford defends private jet purchase after promising to sell plane

"Why the OPP would come to a different conclusion and pick a completely different plane that seems more suitable to Ontario runways than the premier would choose for doing travel, allegedly within the province as well as internationally — I didn't understand," Watkins said.

Luciano Bragança, an aviation journalist at ch-aviation, says the Challenger 650 is a "heavy business jet," which isn’t versatile like the Pilatus PC-24 acquired by the OPP. 

"[The Challenger] has more range, it has a larger cabin, but to be accessible to those smaller airports in Ontario, it's more difficult than a more versatile jet," he said.

In addition to the OPP's new jet, it also owns two Pilatus PC-12 prop planes, which have an even shorter takeoff distance of 2,485 feet and can take up to six passengers. The pair can access 139 of 179 airports in Ontario, according to runway dimension data.

Going forward without the Challenger jet, the premier said he'll go back to the way he’s already been travelling. 

"I'll continue taking commercial," Ford said on Tuesday. "I'll continue going on [the] OPP plane and there are times that I am going to have to charter the odd flight to get to point A, and get through there to point B, and point C and make things happen."

The decision to sell the used Challenger 650 was announced Sunday, just days after the jet's purchase was revealed, then met with backlash from opposition parties and advocacy groups.

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