This Is Canada's Busiest Airport In 2025

The busiest airport in Canada for 2025 is Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). With over 65,000 scheduled flights in 2025, the passenger capacity of just its 10 most popular routes exceeds 10 million seats. The number most frequently flown destination on YYZ schedule boards is Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL). Second place goes to Vancouver International Airport (YVR), and the third most popular destination is Ottawa (YOW).

A destination over the border into the United States takes fourth place, namely New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), and Calgary International Airport (YYC) rounds out the top five. The disparity from first to second most frequent is a roughly 20% gap, with a similar drop from second to third. Air Canada is the leading carrier on every route in the top 10 from YYZ this year. Let’s break it down by the numbers and dive into Canada’s top hub in 2025.

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Toronto and Air Canada have their hands full with flyers who have chosen to spend their money on travel to the top cities in their own backyard. High cross-border travel has hit a historic low due to political turmoil, souring the mood on what has been the friendliest and most open border in the world for decades. The top destinations by number of round-trip flights originating from Toronto Pearson International in 2025, per Cirium, an aviation analytics company, are detailed below.

Montreal has an especially large slice of the pie, and as many as 930,000 Canadian travelers will head up to the nation’s second-largest city and capital of Quebec Province this year. Meanwhile, although Vancouver has few flights overall, the actual capacity in terms of seats aboard those planes is nearly 1.1 million total. Air Canada is the dominant airline that will serve the majority of the customers on both corridors.

Toronto Pearson International Airport At A Glance

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The city of Toronto is the biggest in Canada, which supplies YYZ with a very strong local customer base to keep its runways busy and concourses full. The airport served over 50 million flyers in 2019 alone. Today, Pearson is over 4,600 acres in area, it has 155 total destinations served by over 50 airlines, and the field boasts five runways over 2,744 meters (9,000 feet) long.

The airport’s operational footprint provides support for 50,000 jobs in the Toronto area. The air cargo activity sees almost 400,000 tons of deliveries pass through its warehouses, which have 1.2 million square feet of space. The airfield facilitates 6.3% of Ontario Province’s GDP, worth $42 billion all in all. Over a dozen air cargo carriers frequent Pearson’s runways, with China Airlines Cargo joining the roster just this year.

Domestic may be its bread and butter, but YYZ is also the top international hub for the country. Royal Air Maroc added Pearson to its network in 2025, and Etihad’s Airbus A380s are now on the rotation to serve flyers headed for Abu Dhabi. Pearson accounts for 60% of the country’s total air travel capacity bound for the United Arab Emirates following the addition of the new Etihad route this summer.

The Airports Council International World Committee named Pearson the ‘Best Airport with over 40 Million Passengers in North America’ following its performance in 2023. Terminals 1 and 3 are undergoing renovations to passenger amenities like the restrooms, as well as critical facilities, including jet bridges.

Pearson LIFT

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YYZ projects that 65 million travelers will be bustling in its terminals by the mid-2030s. The Pearson LIFT program is a three-pronged upgrade of a wide range of facilities across the airfield. The broad strokes are ‘Accelerator’ shovels mounted on the tarmac to clear snow, T1 and T3 expansion, and potentially a new terminal altogether.

T1 and T3 will get upgrades to retail, passenger amenities, dining, and modernized facilities across the board. New parking facilities and groundside transport access will be expanded to make the experience as smooth as possible for every flyer that passes through Pearson’s doors.

PACT is the Pearson Accelerator Construction Team that is powering LIFT, which stands for Long-term Investment in Facilities and Terminals. It is a partnership that brings decades of experience encompassing 170 airport projects by Kenaidan Contracting, Alberici Constructors, Amico Major Project, and Obayashi Canada.

Air Canada’s Operations At YYZ

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Air Canada has invested in what it proudly dubs a state-of-the-art, world-class facility, and it also flies Air Canada Express operations out of Pearson with Jazz Aviation on regional routes. OAG Aviation outlines that Air Canada has a roughly 50% market share of the total air traffic that passes in and out of Pearson.

While its resurgence has not quite achieved the same level of traffic that it did before the pandemic, like YYZ itself, Air Canada has made steady gains of 3-5% a year since the end of the Covid-19 air travel halt. The airline employs its 216-strong fleet of jets to serve North American destinations predominantly, with 86% of its route portfolio in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Deborah Flint, President and CEO of Toronto Pearson, stated in September:

“We are thrilled for Air Canada to further grow its network at Toronto Pearson, which strengthens Canada’s connection to economies throughout the world. As Air Canada’s launch partner for the 787-10 – a next generation aircraft – this reflects our role in the market and the importance of our plans to build the airport of the future through Pearson LIFT, our infrastructure program. Through LIFT we will elevate the passenger experience, strengthen global connectivity and local economic expansion; all made possible with our airline partners.”

Data from Planespotters.net shows that Air Canada’s narrowbody fleet is dominated by the Boeing 737 MAX 8, and it currently boasts 47 of the new single-aisle jets. On the widebody side of the hangar, the 787 Dreamliner is gradually taking over as the mainline long-hauler from the 777, which has not fully been phased out yet.

Moving Canada Forward At Pearson

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Aside from Toronto being the largest city in the nation, it sits between the two coasts of Canada. This location makes it a perfect base in the hub-and-spoke network operated by Air Canada. The quality and volume of domestic flight service that YYZ and Air Canada offer together are crucial to the air network of Canada, and the success of each has enabled continued advancement for the aviation industry as a whole.

While Air Canada once held nearly 75% of the domestic market, especially after its merger with Canada Airlines, it is now less than 50% because other Canadian carriers have risen and grown. David Rheault, the Vice President of Air Canada, stated in 2024 that Canada has three of the world’s 50 most globally connected hubs. He went on to say that no country apart from the US and China has 3 hubs with the same quality of global service.

The International Air Transport Association ( IATA) found that over 600,000 jobs, nearly $50 billion in revenue, and 6.3% of gross domestic product, are directly tied to the aviation sector in Canada, nearly $50 billion in revenue, and 6.3% of gross domestic product, are directly tied to the aviation sector in Canada. The IATA projects anywhere from 30% to 50% growth over the next two decades as well.

Expanding International Horizons

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Air Canada is adding destinations in Mexico and South America in the winter of 2025. As the airline’s largest hub and the largest carrier at YYZ, it will give Toronto and connecting flyers from across Canada even more options for the ultimate winter getaway. On top of the winter boost, next summer will debut nonstop flights to Shanghai, Budapest, and Prague. Mark Galardo, the Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer, and President of Cargo at Air Canada, said:

“Air Canada continues to reinforce its significant network at Toronto Pearson and our bold, global growth trajectory will further cement its position as a leading international hub on the continent. Following on our exciting new South America services launching this winter from Toronto to Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Cartagena, plus new vacation destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean, Air Canada will launch two celebrated international routes next summer with the return of non-stop flights from Canada’s largest metropolitan area to Shanghai and to Budapest.”

YYZ serves Canada’s largest metropolis with the deepest roster of destinations that any airport has to offer in the Great White North, as well as the most comprehensive facilities. As the biggest and busiest hub in 2025, Toronto is aiming to stay that way. From the infrastructure and facility enhancements to the growth of its top airlines’ network, all signs point toward a bigger and better tomorrow for Pearson.