Here’s how many travellers used Toronto Pearson Airport in the first 9 months of 2025

Some 35.8 million travellers passed through the terminals at Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga the first nine months of 2025 and airport officials say that number would be greater were it not for several “extreme weather events” and a plane crash that closed a busy runway for five days.

Still, that passenger count figure (22.8 million on international flights, 13 million domestic) through the end of September is slightly up from the same nine-month period in 2024 (35.5 million), the latest numbers from Canada’s biggest and busiest airport show.

Those numbers, and more, were revealed earlier this month as the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which operates Pearson, released its latest financial and operating results covering the first three quarters of 2025 (January through end of September).

Pearson officials said in a corresponding news release the slight increase in passenger traffic so far this year “was largely driven by strong domestic growth (13 million in 2025 versus 12.4 million in 2024) that was partially offset by declines in the international sector. The international sector was impacted by the ongoing decline in transborder (Canada-U.S.) travel.”

The dip in travel numbers between the U.S. and Canada can be attributed to the political friction that’s developed between the two countries over tariffs and U.S. President Donald Trump’s earlier suggestions that Canada become the 51st state.

(Source: Greater Toronto Airports Authority)

Airport officials noted the year-to-date passenger traffic in 2025 (35.8 million) “was also impacted by extreme weather events and a five-day runway closure due to a single aircraft incident” on the afternoon of Feb. 17 in which a Delta Air Lines flight arriving from Minneapolis crashed and burst into flames upon landing at Pearson.

GTAA president and CEO Deborah Flint said in a statement that as 2025 comes to a close, “we expect to see continued progress in our year-over-year performance.”

She said earlier this year that Pearson continues to “meet milestones in our infrastructure plans. Pearson is a national economic driver and we remain focused on increasing our connectivity as a global hub airport that strengthens Canada’s economy.”

Numbers released earlier this year showed 46.8 million travellers used Pearson airport in 2024, up from 44.8 million passengers in 2023 (4.4 per cent increase).

Of those 46.8 million passengers last year, 30.4 million were travelling internationally while the remaining 16.4 million took flights within Canada’s borders.

From 2022 to 2023, passenger traffic at Pearson increased significantly, rising from 35.6 million to 44.8 million as people continued to fly in greater numbers once again following the COVID-19 pandemic and related flight restrictions.

In 2019, the year prior to the pandemic, 50.5 million travellers used Pearson airport. That number dropped dramatically to 13.3 million in 2020 and 12.7 million in 2021 before rebounding in the years since.

(Cover photo: Toronto Pearson Airport X)