Why doesn't Toronto Pearson Airport have a Terminal 2?

A man walks by a newly painted mural that graces a departure lounge at Toronto Pearson International Airport's new Terminal 1 on Tuesday Dec. 2, 2003. Terminal 1 became operational in early April 2004. (CP PHOTO/Tobin Grimshaw)

A TikTok that’s amassed more than 200,000 views in 24 hours has drawn attention to Toronto Pearson International Airport's lack of a Terminal 2.

In the video, posted on Oct. 27, user Chris Zhou poses the question: If Toronto Pearson Airport has Terminals 1 and 3, why doesn’t it have a Terminal 2?

@storiesofcz Petition to make 3 a 2! #toronto #pearsonairport #yyz #airport ♬ original sound - Chris Zou

“We have a Terminal 1. We have a Terminal 3. But we don’t have a Terminal 2,” Zhou can be heard saying.

“I think they used to have one and they got rid of it and they’re like, 'We’ll just keep it at that,’” he says.

Zhou is right; the airport used to have a Terminal 2.

In 1964, Pearson’s first modern terminal, dubbed ‘Aeroquay 1’ opened. It featured a circular design intended to handle up to 3.5 million travellers – it would end up seeing 9 million travellers each year, the Greater Toronto Airport Authority told CTV News Toronto.

To meet growing business demands, Terminal 2 was opened in 1972, they said. For decades, Terminal 2 welcomed international arrivals, and, for many was the first sight people had of Canada when they immigrated to the country.

In 1993, Terminal 3 opened, followed by a new Terminal 1, replacing Aeroquay 1, in 2004. Then, in 2007, Terminal 1 underwent expansion, and Terminal 2 “ceased to be part of operations,” the authority said. It closed in January 2007 and was demolished in 2008.

“Today’s Pearson operates out of two terminals designed with a linear concept -- Terminal 1 and 3,” Rachel Bertone of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority told CTV News Toronto Friday. 

Bertone says there hasn’t been confusion on the lack of a Terminal 2, “People are mostly just curious.”

For more information on the history of Pearson Airport, click here.