Toronto Pearson International Airport (also known as Lester B. Pearson International Airport or simply Pearson Airport or Toronto Pearson) is an international airport serving the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, its metropolitan area, and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.7 million people.
The airport is located northwest of downtown Toronto, in the adjacent city of Mississauga. The airport is named in honour of Lester B. Pearson, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and 14th Prime Minister of Canada. Pearson is the largest and busiest airport in Canada.
In 2014, it handled 38,571,961 passengers and 433,610 aircraft movements in 2013. It is the world’s 35th-busiest airport by total passenger traffic, 24th-busiest airport by international passenger traffic, and 15th-busiest airport by flights. Pearson is a major North American global gateway, handling more international passengers than any airport in North America other than John F. Kennedy International Airport. Pearson is the main hub for Air Canada.
It is also a hub for passenger airline WestJet and cargo airline FedEx Express, and serves as an operating base for passenger airlines Air Transat and Sunwing Airlines. Pearson Airport is operated by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) as part of Transport Canada’s National Airports System and is one of eight Canadian airports with facilities for United States border preclearance. An extensive network of non-stop domestic flights is operated from Pearson by several airlines to all major and many secondary cities across all provinces of Canada.
There are 75 airlines operating at Pearson, connecting the airport to over 155 international destinations worldwide. Pearson is one of only two airports in North America, the other being JFK International Airport, with scheduled direct flights to all six of the world’s inhabited continents.
