Toronto Pearson International Airport, also known as Lester B. Pearson International Airport or simply Toronto Pearson : YYZ), is an international airport serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated 27 km (17 mi) northwest of Downtown Toronto in the city of Mississauga. It is the busiest airport in Canada and is a hub of flag carrierAir Canada and is also a hub for Air Canada Jazz. The airport is operated by Greater Toronto Airports Authority as part of Transport Canada's National Airports System. It is one of eight Canadian airports with facilities for United States border preclearance.
Toronto Pearson handled 32.3 million passengers and 429,262 aircraft movementsin 2008. It was the 22nd busiest airport by aircraft movements in 2008 with 429,829 flights.
The airport was renamed to Toronto Pearson International Airport in 1984, in honour of Lester B. Pearson, the 14th Prime Minister of Canada and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Operationally, the airport is often referred to as Toronto Pearson. Terminal 3 opened in 1991, to offset traffic from Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Before its opening, Terminal 3 was the designation for the CP Air hangar at the airport during 1971 to handle the increased volume at Terminal 1.
There is one infield terminal located near the cargo tentants, however, it is not used for by any airline or cargo airline
As part of the National Airports Policy, management responsibilities of the Toronto Pearson were transferred from Transport Canada to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority in 1996. The $4.4 billion Airport Development Program commenced with focus on terminal development, airside development, infield development, utilities and airport support facilities over a 10-year period. Work began to replace Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 with a new Terminal 1, which along with a Terminal 3 would become the two passenger terminal facilities at Toronto Pearson.
To ensure the ability of Toronto Pearson to accommodate its growing aircraft volume, substantial redevelopment of the airside and infield systems took place. Cargo facilities were added in the centre of the airport between the parallel north-south runways, to increase capabilities and to offset the loss of the cargo facilities that were removed for the new terminal Two new runways were built to increase the number of aircraft that Toronto Pearson can process. A north-south runway, 15R/33L, was added and completed in 1997. Another east-west runway, 06R/24L, was completed in 2002
After the September 11 attacks, Toronto Pearson was part of Operation Yellow Ribbon, as it received 19 of the diverted flights that were coming into the United States, even though Transport Canada and NAV CANADA instructed pilots to avoid the airport as a security measure.
The new Terminal 1 opened on April 6, 2004. Previously, Terminal 2 had a facility for United States border preclearance and handled both domestic and international transborder traffic. Domestic traffic was moved to the new Terminal 1 when it became operational, leaving Terminal 2 to handle transborder United States traffic for Air Canada and their Star Alliance partner United Airlines.
Terminal 2 saw its last day in operation as a passenger terminal on January 29, 2007 and airlines moved to the newly completed Pier F at Terminal 1 the following day. Demolition of Terminal 2 began in April 2007 and is expected to continue until November 2008. Terminal 1 was designed in a way that will allow for future expansion. Future projections see Toronto Pearson handling 55 million passengers annually by 2020and Terminal 3 will also be expanded as needed to service the passengers.
The first landing of an A380 in Toronto was on June 1, 2009, an Emirates Airlines flight.
Traffic flow is steady at Pearson throughout the year, but during the day, peak passenger, cargo and aircraft movements are between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. daily.
