About Us

Leggat Aviation was founded by Jim Leggat in 1945 at Barker Airfield (a small airport then located at Dufferin and Lawrence in Toronto). Jim's intent was to form a company that would serve the needs of small aircraft owners. The company blossomed from there, so much that in 1953, Leggat Aviation moved its operation to a small grass strip on the northern outskirts of Toronto called Buttonville. Jim, and his two brother-in-laws, Hedley and Ross Tripp, along with Tom Smith grew the business to meet the demands of a growing airport and growing industry. That small grass strip is now known as Toronto Buttonville Airport; an airport serving the needs of private, commercial and corporate aviation.

John Leggat joined the company in 1970 after graduating from the University of Waterloo in Mechanical Engineering.  Having worked summers and countless weekends with his father before graduating, John had been influenced by Jim's wisdom, knowledge and passion, as well as his maternal Grandfather, Len Tripp who was a flight instructor and member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.

After Jim Leggat's death in 2001, his great intentions still live on and Leggat Aviation continues to go above and beyond to service the needs of aircraft owners.

Over the years, Leggat Aviation has become a well known name within the aviation community, having represented Champion and subsequently becoming the Canadian distributor fo the Bellanca Citabria and Bellanca Viking until the late 1970s.  During that same period, Leggat Aviation was a Mooney dealer and authorized service center for the new M20C, F and the new M20J and M20K models.  Leggat Aviation retained its service center status until the early 2000s.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Leggat was also a dealer for Waco, the Grumman American Aircraft Corp for the AA5A and AA5B series as well as an authorized Piper Service Center.  In 1989 Leggat was appointed as an Authorized Cessna Service Station for the Cessna Single Engine and Multi-Engine piston as well as the Cessna Caravan.  In 1997, Leggat became a Cessna dealer-- CSTAR for Eastern Canada for the new production aircraft-- 172, 182, and 206 and most recently the Corvalis 350 and 400 developing the Cessna market once again.  In 2004, Leggat became an authorized Cirrus Service support for the new entry aircraft.

Most recently, in 2021, Leggat became the Eastern Canada Sales Representative for the Cessna Caravan.

Today the foundation of the business is the sales of the new Cessna piston products in Eastern Canada and the support of the Cessna family with parts sales throughout Canada.

The company's depth, and long term knowledgeable staff allow for a quality experience for all of its customers.