History of Toronto Pearson International Airport

Toronto Pearson International Airport was established in 1937. In its early days, the airport was referred to as Malton Airport.

1937-1938

The Frank Chapman Farm House - the first terminal and office at Malton Airport[1][2]

The Government of Canada announced its intention to build an airport in Toronto in 1937. A site near Malton, Ontario, northwest of Toronto, was chosen as the location for the airport.[1]

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. The land covered 13 farms:[3][4][5]

Aerial view of Malton Airport, circa 1938

Agreements were drawn up for a total purchase of 570.9 hectares (1,410.8 acres), and several farmers sold lots ranging in size from 20 to 80 hectares (50 to 200 acres).[1][2]

The Chapman farm house was the first office and airport terminal.[1][2]

The construction of the airfield would result in the burial of Silver Creek, one of many creeks in the area that connected to Etobicoke Creek.[3]

1938-1949

The second terminal and administration building at Malton Airport c. 1943. The Toronto Harbour Commission constructed this wood frame terminal in 1939.[2] 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 170 hectares (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.[6]

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).[7]

From 1940 to 1945 No. 1 Air Observer School (AOS) also operated at Malton Airport.[8]

Aeronautical Inspection Directorate’s Inspector School was also based at Malton to overlook aircraft production and the training schools.[9]

During the World War II BCATP built six hangars, drill hall and several h-huts and administrative buildings to support the training program.[9]

The two BCATP schools flew Avro Anson (built in Malton by Victory Aircraft) and de Havilland Tiger Moth during their time at Malton.[10]

After the war No. 10 Aeronautical Inspection District occupied the training school facilities with Veterans Affairs utilizing the huts[9] The RCAF left Malton in 1946 and the buildings later demolished as the airport expanded.

1949-1964

A third "TCA" terminal was built to the western side of second wood frame terminal in 1949.[2] 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 5/23, a 3,368 m (11,050 ft) runway (used for test flights of the CF-105 Arrow (Avro Arrow) fighter from the Avro Canada plant); 14/32, a 3,498 m (11,475 ft) runway (replaced by 15L/33R); and 10/28, a 2,263 m (7,425 ft) runway that now is a taxiway.[11]

In November 1958, the City of Toronto sold the airport to the federal Department of Transport; in 1960, it was renamed Toronto International Airport.[12]

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).

Malton "TCA" Airport 1960. This was the third terminal at Malton Airport and was built in 1948-49. It was demolished after "Aeroquay One" came on-stream in 1964. The crowd of people is watching the planes come and go from the observation deck.

U.S. border preclearance

Preclearance was pioneered at Pearson in 1952 as a convenience to allow it to connect as a domestic airport to the many smaller airports in the United States that at the time lacked customs and immigration facilities. It was at first a service performed by U.S. Customs agents at the gate. U.S. federal government concerns over smuggling between precleared and non-cleared passengers at Toronto Pearson (who at that time shared mixed terminal space) nearly ended the program in the 1970s, until a compromise was reached that called for segregated facilities. Today, Pearson handles 8 million passengers through its U.S. customs and immigration preclearance facilities per year, which is roughly one quarter of all passenger traffic at the airport.[13]

Aeroquay One

The third "TCA" terminal was demolished in the late 1960s and replaced by the Aeroquay One terminal building, which was built further south of the original site along Airport Road. Aeroquay One (also called Terminal One) had a square central structure housing ticketing and baggage facilities topped by a parking garage with about eight levels and ringed by a two-storey passenger concourse leading to the gates. It was designed by John B. Parkin, with construction taking place between 1957 and 1964. Aeroquay One was officially opened on February 28, 1964 by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.[2]

Aeroquay One ceased operations on April 5, 2004, and has since been demolished.

Former Terminal 2

A view of Toronto International Airport in April 1973, showing the original Terminal 1 or Aeroquay One (now demolished)

Considered state-of-the-art in the 1960s, the original Terminal 1 became overloaded by the early 1970s. Terminal 2 opened as a passenger airline terminal on June 15, 1972. Initially, it served only charter airlines, but it became the hub for Air Canada passenger flights on April 29, 1973.

While a legend suggests that Terminal 2 was originally intended as a freight terminal, this was not the case. The legend may have stemmed from the fact that a cargo facility was used as a temporary passenger terminal while waiting for completion of the new terminal.[14]

The airport was renamed Lester B. Pearson International Airport in 1984, in honour of Lester B. Pearson, the fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada and recipient of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize. Operationally, the airport is often referred to as Toronto Pearson.

Terminal 2 had a facility for United States border preclearance and handled both domestic and international trans-border traffic. Domestic traffic was moved to the new Terminal 1 when it became operational, leaving Terminal 2 to handle international traffic to the United States for Air Canada and its Star Alliance partner United Airlines.

A passenger tunnel with moving walkways at the northwest corner of Terminal 2 connected it with Terminal 1.

Terminal 2 saw its last day in operation as a passenger terminal January 29, 2007. The following day, airlines moved to the newly completed Pier F, or Hammerhead Pier at the current Terminal 1.

Demolition of Terminal 2 began in April 2007 and concluded in November 2008.[15]

Operation Yellow Ribbon

During the September 11 attacks in 2001, Toronto Pearson International Airport played a role in Operation Yellow Ribbon. It received 14 of the diverted international flights that were destined for the United States after the closure of US airspace.[16]

Recent history

In order to accommodate its growing aircraft volume, substantial redevelopment of the airside and infield systems has taken place. Cargo facilities were added to the centre of the airport between the parallel north–south runways in order to increase capabilities and to offset the loss of the cargo facilities that were removed for the current terminal buildings.[17] Two runways were built to increase the number of aircraft that Toronto Pearson could process. A north–south runway, 15R/33L, was added and completed in 1997. Another east–west runway, 06R/24L, was completed in 2002.[18]

The continued increase of air traffic at Toronto Pearson resulted in a 2013 decision by Transport Canada to proceed with the planning and construction of Toronto Pickering International Airport[19] (following a 2001 decision to simply revive plans for the airport), which would be approximately 50 km (31 mi) east of Toronto Pearson and handle up to 11.9 million passengers per year by 2032 with its three runways.[20]

Recently, on December 15, 2015 Toronto Pearson, has for the first time ever, reached the 40 million yearly passengers milestone. This was a first for any Canadian airport to achieve.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Cook, Dave (2010). Fading History Vol. 2. Mississauga, Ontario: David L. Cook. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-9734265-3-3.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hicks, Kathleen A. (2006). Malton: Farms to Flying. Mississauga, Ontario: Friends of the Mississauga Library System. p. 133. ISBN 0-9697873-9-1.
  3. 1 2 http://www.mississauga.ca/file/COM/9634_MaltonBook_PartThree.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www5.mississauga.ca/library/SRC/MM1939_Airport.html
  5. ↑ http://www.blogto.com/city/2012/11/what_the_toronto_airport_used_to_look_like/
  6. ↑ Dexter, Brian (March 16, 1974). "Malton residents say they've had enough". Toronto Star. p. B09.
  7. ↑ "Flight Ontario – BCATP Schools". Flightontario.com. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  8. ↑ http://militarybruce.com/abandoned-canadian-military-bases/the-british-commonwealth-air-training-plan/
  9. 1 2 3 http://militarybruce.com/abandoned-canadian-military-bases/abandoned-bases/ontario/
  10. ↑ http://jfchalifoux.com/bcatp.htm
  11. ↑ "Toronto Port Authority". Torontoport.com. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  12. ↑ "GTAA Master Plan" (PDF). p. 1.19. |chapter= ignored (help)
  13. ↑ "Preclearance Act Review: Information Document." Government of Canada. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Celebrating Success pg 10" (PDF). http://www.torontopearson.com. Greater Toronto Airports Authority. Retrieved August 3, 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  15. ↑ "CTV News". Ctv.ca. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  16. ↑ "Congressional Bills 112th US Congress - H. Res. 286 Introduced in House (IH)". US Government. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  17. ↑ "GTAA – Chapter 4:Layout 1" (PDF). Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  18. ↑ "GTAA – Chapter 5:Layout 1" (PDF). Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  19. ↑ Transport Canada, Press Release, June 11, 2013;
  20. ↑ Cf. Transport Canada, Plan Showing Pickering Airport Site; also Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Pickering Airport Draft Plan Report, 6.3. By comparison, Toronto Pearson International Airport had 32.3 million passengers in 2008, with an average of 1,179 "aircraft movements" per day (GTTA, Toronto Pearson Fast Facts; and Pickering Airport Site Zoning Regulations, September 30, 2004.
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