Air Canada's Toronto Signature Suite is closed until December, and affected flyers get a return pass

News and analysis · Sources checked October 6, 2026.

Air Canada closed its Signature Suite at Toronto Pearson on September 30, 2026. The lounge, which serves a chef's menu to passengers on paid long-haul business class fares, is expanding into the former Plaza Premium space beside it at gate E77 in Terminal 1. Air Canada expects a partial reopening in December and the full, larger lounge by early 2027, according to InsideFlyer and Milesopedia.

What you get in the meantime

Eligible passengers are sent to the International Maple Leaf Lounge with a dedicated priority queue at the door, and Air Canada has set up a temporary grab-and-go stand near gate E85. The Maple Leaf Lounge is a good room, with 300 seats and six showers, but it is a buffet lounge, not a restaurant, and the gap between the two is the whole reason the Signature Suite exists.

Air Canada's compensation is the part worth noting. Anyone holding a Signature Suite-eligible ticket during the closure gets an invitation to the expanded lounge, valid until December 31, 2028, usable on any Air Canada international flight in any cabin, and transferable to a companion. One Mile at a Time could not recall another airline doing this for a renovation, and neither can we.

The Vancouver Signature Suite is unaffected. Priority Pass holders at Pearson should note the photographed Plaza Premium option is in Terminal 3, which does not help if you are flying Air Canada from Terminal 1.

Our take

An 80-seat restaurant lounge at an airport the size of Pearson was always going to fill up, so expanding it is the right call, and doing it in the quietest quarter of the year is sensible. The return pass turns a three-month inconvenience into something people will remember Air Canada for in a good way. It costs the airline very little and buys a lot of goodwill. More airlines should copy it.