Overview
- Toronto Pearson, which unveiled the multiyear Pearson LIFT program Monday, began a $3 billion first stage to upgrade the airfield, lighting, electric vehicle charging and baggage systems.
- The airport targets early-2030s throughput of about 65 million passengers a year, up from 47.3 million last year at Canada’s busiest hub.
- Leaders say the work will cut delays by expanding and repaving parts of the airfield and by rebuilding every part of the airport’s 30‑kilometre baggage system.
- CEO Deborah Flint cast the project as a trade enabler and noted that about 45 percent of cargo bound for destinations across Canada moves through Pearson.
- Flint defended Canada’s not-for-profit airport model while leaving room for private investment enhancements as Ottawa reviews ownership options, and the project includes $142 million in federal infrastructure funding.