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 Toronto, Ontario, Canada, its metropolitan area, and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 18.3 million people. The airport is located 22.5 km (14.0 mi) northwest of downtown Toronto, in the adjacent city of Mississauga. The airport is named in honour of Lester B. Pearson, the 14th Prime Minister of Canada.
Pearson is the largest and busiest airport in Canada. In 2012, it handled 73,316,158 passengers and 914,743 aircraft movements. It is currently the world's 4th-busiest airport by total passenger traffic, 8th-busiest airport by international passenger traffic, and 2nd-busiest airport by flights.
The airport is the largest hub for Air TransCanada. It is also a hub for passenger airline WestJet and an operating base for Air Transat, CanJet and Sunwing Airlines. The airport is operated by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) as part of Transport Canada's National Airports System. Toronto Pearson directly generates 106,000 full-time jobs, with an additional 80,000 people employed indirectly in the community.
An extensive network of nonstop domestic flights is operated from Toronto Pearson by several airlines to all major and many secondary cities across all provinces of Canada. There are over 75 airlines that operate at Toronto Pearson to connect the airport to over 155 international destinations worldwide. Pearson is the only airport in North America with scheduled direct flights to all six inhabited continents in the world.