Toronto Pearson International Airport

If you spot in Toronto for the first time, you quickly notice that a lot works differently here than in Frankfurt or Munich. Registrations start with C-, the regional aircraft carry De Havilland Canada propellers, and the Canadian top dog sends its Boeing 777 over the runway every few minutes. Pearson is Canada’s biggest airport and Air Canada’s most important hub – and, with five runways in three directions, an airport where you need to know the wind direction before you set out.

From a field at Malton to the gateway to Canada

The airport’s history begins in the late 1930s. The Canadian government then pledged to support two airports in the Toronto area: one on the islands off downtown – today’s Billy Bishop Airport – and one in the countryside at Malton, northwest of the city. On August 29, 1939, a Trans-Canada Air Lines DC-3 landed there on the first scheduled flight. That airline later became Air Canada, which still operates its most important hub at the same place.

In World War II, the field served the Royal Canadian Air Force as a training station. In 1958 the federal government took over the airport from the City of Toronto, and in 1984 it was named after the former prime minister Lester B. Pearson, who had received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957. Since 1996, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) has operated the airport; the grounds still belong to the state.

By the way, the code YYZ is not an abbreviation for Toronto. Almost all major Canadian airports have IATA codes starting with a Y – Montreal-Trudeau is YUL, Vancouver YVR, Calgary YYC. Among music fans, YYZ is also known as the title of an instrumental piece by the Canadian band Rush.

Five runways, three directions

The runway system is the first thing you need to understand. Pearson has three runways that lie roughly east–west and two that run roughly north–south. The terminals sit in the middle of the grounds, surrounded by the runways. For spotters, that means: Depending on the wind, very different corners of the airport become interesting.

Which runway plays which role at any moment is decided by air traffic control based on wind, weather and traffic volume. Before your first visit, look at a map of the grounds and follow live in a flight tracker where landings are currently taking place. How that works in practice is explained in the post on flight tracking with ADS-B.

Runway direction in use: 23 and 24 or 05 and 06?

Aircraft take off and land into the wind. In southern Ontario it often blows from westerly directions – then movements run on the 23 and 24 runways: Aircraft come in from the northeast and depart toward the southwest. When the wind turns east, the picture changes, and the approaches come in from the other side over the 05 and the 06 runways. With a strong north or south wind, the two 15/33 runways come into play.

For you, this means: A position that is perfect today can stay completely empty tomorrow. So always plan your spot only after a look at the wind forecast and current aircraft movements. The basics are in the post Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

Air Canada shapes the picture

Pearson is the most important of the three big hubs of Air Canada – alongside Montreal-Trudeau and Vancouver. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance and flies from Toronto across Canada, to the US, Europe, Asia, South America and the Caribbean. Accordingly, the widebody fleet is dense at the airport: The Boeing 777-300ER flies the long routes, the 787-9 and the smaller 787-8 complement the network, and then there is the Airbus A330-300.

On short and medium-haul routes, you see Air Canada with the Airbus A220-300, the A320 family up to the A321 and the Boeing 737 MAX 8. For fleet renewal, the airline has ordered the A321XLR and the 787-10, among others. The A220 has special significance for Canada: It was developed as the CSeries by Bombardier before Airbus took over the program.

The Air Canada family also includes the leisure subsidiary Air Canada Rouge and the regional brand Air Canada Express. Its flights are mainly operated by Jazz Aviation and PAL Airlines – with propeller aircraft of the Dash 8 family and regional jets such as the CRJ900.

Two terminals, two worlds

Pearson now has two passenger terminals. The old Terminal 2 and the ring-shaped Aeroquay terminal are long gone. Terminal 1 opened in 2004 and is the home of Air Canada, its subsidiaries and most Star Alliance partners; other international airlines such as Emirates also check in passengers there. A separate area serves traffic to the US: Passengers go through US immigration and customs already in Toronto and arrive in the States as on a domestic flight.

Terminal 3 dates from 1991 and used to be the hub of Canadian Airlines International. Today, WestJet, Porter, Air Transat and Flair Airlines check in passengers there, along with the SkyTeam carriers such as Delta and many members of oneworld such as American Airlines. The Infield Concourse between the runways supplements Terminal 3 at peak times; passengers go there by bus.

What you rarely get in Europe

The real appeal of Pearson for European spotters lies in the aircraft mix. Porter Airlines, for a long time flying only turboprops at the city airport Billy Bishop, has built up a large jet fleet with the Embraer E195-E2 and made Pearson one of its hubs. The Dash 8-400, which made Porter known, you see in Toronto mostly at the city airport – at Pearson, Dash 8s mainly show up with Air Canada Express.

WestJet from Calgary flies 737 MAX 8s, older 737 models and the Boeing 787-9. The leisure airline Air Transat from Montreal is represented with Airbus types, the ultra-low-cost carrier Flair with the 737 MAX. From the US come the big network carriers with their regional partners, including Delta Connection, United Express and American Eagle. So in a single day you get types like the Embraer E175, CRJ and Dash 8 in front of your lens in a density that is rare at German airports. How to tell the Embraer family apart is shown in the post Telling Embraer E-Jets apart.

On top of that come long-haul airlines from Europe, the Middle East and Asia – including Lufthansa. Which visitors are coming and with what equipment depends on the current schedule. How to reliably tell 777s and 787s apart is shown in the post Telling the Boeing 777 and 787 apart.

Reading Canadian registrations

Canadian civil aircraft carry registrations that start with C-, followed by four letters – for airliners usually C-F… or C-G…. Because Air Canada, WestJet and Porter operate large fleets of the same types, the registration is often the only feature that separates two sightings. So always write it down, even if you’re just taking a quick proof photo. The basics of prefixes and the system are in the post Understanding aircraft registrations.

A special case are the many flights from the US: Regional jets of Delta Connection, United Express or American Eagle carry US registrations that start with N – even though they are just as everyday in Toronto as the Canadian aircraft. And leased aircraft can sit in other registers in between – so a look at the tail is always worthwhile.

Spotting without a visitors’ hill

Pearson has no official observation deck or visitors’ park like Munich. Instead, the Toronto spotter scene uses public roads, sidewalks and green spaces around the runway ends. According to spotter guides and local reports, two areas are particularly popular:

• Under the approach to 05/23: On the roads northeast and southwest of the longest runway, aircraft come in low. With a west wind, the northeast side is in demand, where the aircraft fly toward 23 – that is often the best chance for big long-haul aircraft.
• At 06R/24L: On a road near this runway there is a spot known among spotters with a very close view of the traffic. Parking is limited there; some of the places can also be reached via bike and walking paths along Etobicoke Creek.

We deliberately don’t give specific addresses here, because access, construction sites and parking rules keep changing. Check on site whether a place is publicly accessible, and move on if signs or security staff say otherwise.

Winter operations: snow, ice and deicing

Pearson is a true winter airport. According to available information, about 110 to 130 centimeters of snow fall here on average each winter. To keep operations running anyway, the airport operates a central deicing facility with several bays where several aircraft can be treated at the same time; it handles more than 10,000 aircraft per season.

For spotters, this is a world of subjects of its own: steaming aircraft, orange and green fluids, snowplows in convoy and takeoffs through whirled-up snow. How deicing works technically is explained in the post Deicing of aircraft; what happens on the ground to keep the runways clear is in the post on winter service at the airport. And how to hold out yourself in subzero temperatures, you can read in Plane spotting in winter.

Cargo, accidents and safety

Besides passenger traffic, Pearson is a major cargo airport. According to available information, about 440,000 tons were handled in 2025. A large share flies in the bellies of long-haul aircraft; on top of that come pure freighters, for example from FedEx, which operates its Canadian hub here, and international cargo airlines from Europe and Asia. Which freighters come regularly changes with the integrators’ contracts – a look at the flight tracker shows you the current rotations.

Two events made the airport internationally known. On August 2, 2005, an Air France Airbus A340-300 overran the end of Runway 24L during a severe thunderstorm into a ravine at Etobicoke Creek; the aircraft burned out, and all occupants survived. On February 17, 2025, a CRJ900 of Delta Connection carrier Endeavor Air flipped over while landing on Runway 23. Here too, all 80 people on board survived, and several were injured.

Toronto compared

In North America, Pearson plays in the same league as the big US hubs, but is clearly smaller than Chicago O’Hare Airport or New York JFK Airport. In return, the aircraft mix has a Canadian character – with Air Canada, WestJet and Porter at the center. If you plan a North America tour, you often combine Toronto with a US airport; tips for that are in the post on the plane spotting trip to the US.

Within Canada, Vancouver is the counterpart on the Pacific coast – there, with Larry Berg Flight Path Park, there is even a designated spotter park. And if you’re coming from Europe, you usually depart for Toronto from one of the big Star Alliance hubs such as Frankfurt Airport or Munich Airport, which you can look at for comparison. If you’re interested in the Canadian industry behind the regional aircraft, you’ll find more at De Havilland Canada.

Conclusion

Toronto Pearson is not an airport where you sit down on a hill and let the day come to you. Five runways in three directions, no official spotter area and a climate with harsh winters require some planning. In return, you get a hub where Air Canada sets the tone with 777, 787 and A220 and where types like the E195-E2, Dash 8 and CRJ are part of everyday life.

If you check wind direction, light and arrivals board beforehand and keep your registrations neatly written down, you’ll get a sightings list out of one day in Toronto that differs clearly from anything you know from European airports.