Video: 50 years ago Pearson Airport looked like this in Mississauga

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Published August 27, 2023 at 8:00 am

Pearson Airport History

In 1964, when Pearson Airport first opened in Malton, what we know now as Mississauga, it was supposed to handle 3.5 million passengers a year. Fast forward to 2023, and it is up to 20 million a year!

Pearson Airport in Mississauga has a lot of history, and it’s rare to see so much of it get captured on video decades before mobile devices.

For those wondering how the airport looked back in the day, a video posted by Dana Lee on YouTube captures a great deal of the airport’s interior and exterior circa 1975:

Aside from seeing an old Air Canada plane get ready for takeoff, some interesting things to note are the airport’s old signage and flight information displayed on old CRT monitors before modern LCD screens, as well as a few shots of old buses and cars.

Pearson’s first modern terminal, Aeroquay 1, was opened in 1964 (about 11 years before the above footage was taken). Considered very innovative at the time, its circular design was intended to handle up to 3.5 million passengers.

To meet growing demand, Terminal 2 was opened in 1972, Terminal 3 in 1993 and a new Terminal 1 in 2004.

Today, Pearson Airport operates out of two terminals designed with a linear concept (Terminals 1 and 3), with Terminal 2 having been demolished in 2008.

Photo and video courtesy of Dana Lee, with files from Pearson Airport

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