Toronto Pearson International Airport is in Mississauga near Toronto. As Canada's busiest airport, it handled 38.6 million passengers in 2014.
Understand
Malton Airport, built on what were farmers' fields in the 1930s, hosted its first scheduled passenger flight (a Trans-Canada Airlines DC-3 landing) on August 29, 1939. From 1940-1942, Malton hosted a World War II British Commonwealth Air Training Plan flight school. Malton Airport became Toronto International Airport in 1960. Various terminal buildings have been constructed and demolished over the years as the airport expanded; Aeroquay One (1964) was demolished in 2004 and replaced with a new Terminal 1, while Terminal 2 (1972) was demolished in 2007.
As Toronto surpassed Montréal to become Canada's largest city in the 1970s, traffic through Pearson has been steadily increasing. While Air Canada's corporate headquarters remain in Montréal, Toronto Pearson is now the airline's largest hub. The airport's "YYZ" Morse code identifier (- . - - - . - - - - . .) appears in a Rush (band) track of the same name from the album Moving Pictures (1981).
While Montréal traffic was split for many years with the construction of an awkward outlying airport at Mirabel, a second major Toronto-area airport proposed for Pickering met with strong local opposition since the mid-1970s and was never constructed. While some short-range flights to destinations like Montréal, New York and Chicago operate from Toronto Islands airport, the bulk of Toronto's passenger volume by necessity goes through Pearson, the second-busiest airport for international traffic (behind John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City) in North America.
Flights
There are two terminals at the airport: 1 and 3 (2 was demolished due to new development). Flights are arranged in this way:
* Terminal 1 - Air Canada, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Egyptair, Emirates, Ethiopian, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Jet Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Sunwing, Turkish Airlines, United
* Terminal 3 - All other airlines
Departure
For flights to the USA, you go through US customs and immigration after check-in. This is generally a quick process and saves any queuing in the States. At peak times the lines at security can be very long so allow plenty of time to get through the system.
Get around
* Terminal Link train runs every 4-8 minutes between Terminal 1, Terminal 3 and Viscount Road (Value Park Garage, Value Park Lot and ALT Hotel). Free.
Wait
There are various temporary or permanent artistic exhibitions scattered through Terminal 1, as well as eight permanent sculpture installations. The Royal Ontario Museum operates a small display of dinosaurs; other partners for temporary exhibitions include Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the CONTACT Photography Festival, Design Exchange, Ontario Crafts Council and Open Studio.
Connect
Free Wi-Fi is available in both terminals. Select “Toronto Pearson Wi-Fi” from the network list, launch a web browser and click "connect" on the Boingo landing page.