YYZ Aviation

The History of YYZ

In February 1935, the Government of Canada announced its intention to build an airport in Toronto. A site near Malton, Ontario, northwest of Toronto, was chosen as the location for the new airport.In April 1937, land agents representing the Toronto Harbour Commission approached farmers in Malton who owned Lots 6-10 on Concession 5 and 6 to acquire land for Malton Airport. Agreements were drawn up for a total purchase of 1,410.8 acres, and several farmers sold lots ranging in size from 50 to 200 acres. The F. Chapman Farm House – the first terminal and office at Malton Airport. The Chapman farm house was the first office and airport terminal.

1937-1949

The second terminal and administration building at Malton Airport 1943. The Toronto Harbour Commission constructed this wood frame terminal in 1939.This terminal was a twin of the terminal on Toronto Island.The second terminal, a standard wood frame building, was built in 1938. The airport at the time covered 420 acres  with full lighting, radio, weather reporting equipment, two hard surface runways, and one grass landing strip. The first scheduled passenger flight to Malton Airport was a Trans-Canada Airlines DC-3 that landed on August 29, 1939. From June 1940 to July 1942, during the Second World War, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) operated No. 1 Elementary Service Flying School (EFTS) at Malton Airport.

1949-1964

A third “TCA” terminal was built to the west side of second wood frame terminal in 1949. It could handle 400,000 passengers per year and had an observation deck on the roof. In front of the old terminal was a set of stairs leading to a ramp to allow visitors to access the rooftop observation deck. Further expansion saw the expropriation of land near the hamlet of Elmbank. The runways were 11,050 ft runway 5/23 (used for test flights of the CF-105 Arrow (Avro Arrow) fighter from the Avro Canada plant); 14/32, a 11,475 ft  runway (replaced by 15L/33R); and 10/28, a 7,425 ft  runway that now is a taxiway. In November 1958, the City of Toronto sold the airport to the federal Department of Transport; in 1960, it was renamed Toronto International Airport.The 1939 and 1949 addition (and surrounding structures) were torn down in 1964 with the area developed for Air Canada’s hangar with the terminal site now occupied by the Vista Cargo Centres (Cargo Area 5).

Toronto Pearson International Airport (also known as Lester B. Pearson International Airport or simply Pearson Airport or Toronto Pearson) (IATA: YYZ, ICAO: CYYZ) 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 22.5 km 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 2013, it handled 36,109,469 passengers and 435,592 aircraft movements. It is the world’s 35th-busiest airport by total passenger traffic, 23rd-busiest airport by international passenger traffic, and 18th-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.

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