Private aviation, in one paragraph
Private and corporate aircraft at Pearson use the fixed-base operators — Skyservice (on the airport's north side off Derry Road) and Signature Flight Support (on the south side off Convair Drive) — not the passenger terminals. Ground transport meets passengers at the FBO's lounge or, with the FBO's authorisation, planeside on the ramp; the aircraft is tracked by tail number rather than a flight number; customs for international arrivals is cleared at the FBO by CBSA officers who attend the aircraft; and the vehicle — an S-Class, an Escalade, a Sprinter for a group — is chosen for the passengers and the luggage a jet carries. The same pattern applies at Oshawa Executive, Markham (the Buttonville successor), Hamilton, Waterloo, Niagara District and Billy Bishop's FBO. The fare is fixed by destination as for any airport run.
Pearson handles tens of thousands of private and business aviation movements a year — corporate jets, charters, fractional-ownership aircraft, medevac flights — through two FBOs on opposite sides of the airfield, each with its own ramp, hangars, lounge, customs facility and road access, and none of it touches the passenger terminals that the rest of this journal describes. For ground transportation the differences are practical: there is no Door A, no arrivals hall and no flight number; there is a tail number, an FBO, a ramp gate with a security procedure, a lounge with a concierge, and a passenger who expects the car to be at the aircraft's stairs or at the lounge door without being asked. This article explains the FBOs and their locations, the planeside and lounge pickups and how the chauffeur is admitted, tail-number tracking, customs at the FBO, the vehicles, the discretion, the corporate flight department's booking pattern, and the other GTA fields where private aircraft land; the private aviation page has the fares and the procedure in short form.
The two FBOs: Skyservice and Signature
Skyservice FBO is on Pearson's north side, reached from Derry Road and the airport's northern perimeter (the address is on the private aviation page), with a lounge, crew facilities, hangars, a CBSA customs facility and a ramp for aircraft up to the largest business jets. Signature Flight Support is on the south side, reached from Convair Drive off Airport Road and the 427's southern access, with the same facilities. Which one a flight uses is the operator's or the charter's choice and is on the passenger's itinerary; our dispatch confirms the FBO with the flight department or the charter broker before the aircraft lands, because the two are fifteen minutes apart by road around the airfield and a car at the wrong one is the private-aviation equivalent of the wrong terminal.
The lounge pickup
The standard pickup is at the FBO's lounge: the chauffeur checks in at the FBO's front desk with the passenger's name and the tail number, waits in the lounge or at the door, and takes the luggage as the FBO's staff bring it from the aircraft; the car is at the lounge's door or in the FBO's parking area beside it, and the passenger walks twenty metres. The lounge has a concierge, coffee, Wi-Fi and, for international arrivals, the customs room; the whole transfer from aircraft stairs to car is five to fifteen minutes.
The planeside pickup
For passengers who prefer the car at the aircraft — executives on a schedule, talent, anyone with a lot of luggage or a reason for discretion — the FBO can authorise a vehicle onto the ramp, escorted by the FBO's staff, to wait at the aircraft's stairs; the chauffeur and the vehicle are logged at the ramp gate, the escort takes the car to the aircraft, the passengers step from the stairs to the car, and the escort takes the car back to the gate. It requires the FBO's authorisation in advance (arranged through the flight department or the charter broker and confirmed by our dispatch), a chauffeur whose identification the FBO has recorded, and a vehicle the FBO has inspected; not every FBO allows it for every flight, and international arrivals clear customs before the car approaches. Our chauffeurs who work the FBOs regularly are known to the FBOs' staff, which is most of what makes the planeside pickup routine.
Tail numbers and tracking
A private aircraft has no flight number; it has a registration — a tail number (C-GXXX for Canadian aircraft, N-numbers for American) — and the flight's estimated arrival is known to the FBO from the flight plan and to the public flight-tracking services by the tail number (some operators block their aircraft from public tracking, in which case the FBO's or the flight department's update is the source). Our dispatch tracks the tail number where it is visible and confirms with the FBO or the flight department where it is not, and the chauffeur is at the FBO fifteen minutes before the estimated arrival; the flight delays article's wait policy applies with the FBO's arrival as the reference.
Customs at the FBO
International private arrivals clear Canadian customs at the FBO: the aircraft's operator files the arrival with the CBSA in advance (through CANPASS for eligible aircraft or the general aviation reporting process), and CBSA officers attend the aircraft or the FBO's customs room to inspect passengers and baggage; the process takes ten to thirty minutes for a jet's passengers and is nothing like the terminal's hall. The chauffeur waits in the lounge or at the ramp gate until customs releases the passengers; the customs time article is about the terminals and does not apply here. Passengers arriving from the US clear Canadian customs at the FBO; passengers departing for the US on a private aircraft clear US customs on arrival in the US (there is no US pre-clearance for private aviation at Pearson).
The vehicles
A jet's passengers are two to twelve and its baggage hold carries more than the airlines allow, which makes the vehicle decision: an S-Class or a 7 Series for one or two executives; an Escalade or Navigator for four with luggage; a Sprinter for a group of eight to twelve with a jet's worth of bags; two or three vehicles for a delegation. The fleet page shows the classes; the Mercedes S-Class article and the Escalade article describe the vehicles most often requested at the FBOs; the luggage capacity article has the numbers.
Discretion
Private aviation's passengers are often people who fly privately because they do not want to be seen — executives in a deal, talent, athletes, officials, families of means — and the ground transport respects it: the chauffeur does not use names in the lounge, the vehicle's windows are tinted to the legal limit, the route avoids the obvious, the pickup is planeside where possible, and nothing about the booking is discussed with anyone. The privacy and discretion article sets the standard; the diplomatic and consular article covers the protocol version; the TIFF guide the September when the FBOs' ramps are full of the film industry's aircraft.
The flight department's booking pattern
A corporate flight department or a charter broker books ground transport for its passengers as part of the flight — the aircraft, the FBO, the car — and the pattern is a corporate account with the flight department's coordinator as the booker: a tail number, an FBO, an estimated arrival, a passenger manifest and the destinations, sent by email, and dispatch's confirmation with the chauffeur's name and the vehicle's plate for the FBO's records. Changes — an earlier departure, a diversion to Hamilton because of Pearson's slot restrictions — are texts. The executive assistants' guide covers the booking from the assistant's side and the roadshow article the investor tour that often arrives by private aircraft.
Pearson's slot restrictions and the diversions
Pearson restricts private aviation movements at its busiest hours through a slot system, and a jet that cannot get a slot lands at Hamilton, Oshawa, Markham or Waterloo instead — a change that reaches our dispatch from the flight department the same hour and moves the car to the other field. The Hamilton airport article and the Oshawa guide cover the fields; a diversion's fare is re-quoted for the new origin and agreed by text.
The other GTA fields
Oshawa Executive Airport on Taunton Road has an FBO, charter operators and corporate hangars, and is the east's private field (Oshawa guide). Markham Airport (the successor to Buttonville, which closed in 2023, is the small Markham field north of the city; corporate traffic largely moved to Pearson's FBOs and Oshawa). Hamilton International has FBOs and long runways that take the largest business jets (Hamilton airport article). Waterloo has corporate hangars and an FBO for the tech corridor (Waterloo airport article). Niagara District at Niagara-on-the-Lake has an FBO for the wine country's charters (Niagara airports article). Billy Bishop has an FBO for private aircraft that can use its runway, with the mainland pickup at Eireann Quay (Billy Bishop guide). The same tail-number, FBO-lounge and planeside procedures apply at each.
A worked example: a Gulfstream from Teterboro to Yorkville
A flight department emails on Monday: a G650 from Teterboro, tail number provided, Signature at Pearson, ETA 16:30 Wednesday, four passengers, luggage, two S-Class sedans to the Four Seasons and one to a Bay Street office, planeside if possible. Dispatch confirms the FBO and the planeside authorisation with Signature on Tuesday; the two chauffeurs are logged at the ramp gate at 16:05 Wednesday; the tracking shows the aircraft ten minutes early; the escort takes both cars to the aircraft as it shuts down at 16:22; CBSA attends the aircraft and clears the four passengers in twelve minutes; the passengers step from the stairs to the cars at 16:38; the escort takes the cars to the gate; the 427, the 401 and the Allen to Yorkville, the Four Seasons at 17:25; the Bay Street office at 17:20 via the Gardiner. The flight department's account statement shows three fixed fares and the HST.
Private aviation quick reference
| Item | Pearson FBOs | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FBOs | Skyservice (north side, Derry Rd), Signature (south side, Convair Dr) | 15 min apart by road |
| Pickup | FBO lounge door, or planeside with FBO authorisation | Chauffeur logged at the ramp gate |
| Tracking | Tail number (public tracking or FBO/flight department) | No flight number |
| Customs (international) | CBSA at the FBO / aircraft | 10–30 min; no terminal hall |
| Vehicles | S-Class / 7 Series, Escalade / Navigator, Sprinter | Chosen for passengers and jet luggage |
| Slot diversions | Hamilton, Oshawa, Markham, Waterloo | Car moves with the aircraft |
| Fare | Fixed by destination, as for any airport run | Quoted before booking |
Booking private aviation ground transport
The private aviation page has the fares and the procedure; the engine takes the FBO as the pickup and the notes field takes the tail number and the planeside request; flight departments and brokers book through a corporate account by email.
Crew transport and the aircraft's own logistics
Private aviation's ground transport is not only the passengers': the aircraft's crew — two pilots and a flight attendant on a large jet — need a car to a hotel and back for an overnight, the flight department's mechanics and the catering need runs to the FBO, and the corporate account that books the passengers' cars books the crew's; the airport strip's hotels five minutes from either FBO are the crew hotels and the airport strip guide covers them. A crew car at 5 a.m. from the Marriott to Skyservice for a 6:30 departure is a booking we make most weeks.
Medevac and the hospital run
Air ambulance and medevac flights land at Pearson's FBOs and at Oshawa and Hamilton, and their ground transport is the hospitals' — a patient by ambulance, the family by black car to Hospital Row, SickKids or the Juravinski; the hospital row article covers University Avenue's hospitals and the healthcare executive transport article the visiting-specialist pattern that sometimes arrives by private aircraft.
Booking notes for the FBOs
Three small things. Name the FBO — Skyservice or Signature — and give the tail number; the two are fifteen minutes apart and the tail number is the only way to track. Say planeside if you want it, in advance, so the FBO's authorisation is arranged. And give the passenger count and the luggage honestly; a jet's hold carries more than the airlines allow and the vehicle is chosen for it.
