IBM has signed a $130 million, five-year agreement with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which runs the city's Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Under the terms of the deal, IBM will assume responsibility for ticket kiosks, passenger and baggage check-in and aircraft gates at Canada's busiest airport, which handles over 30.4 million passengers per year.

Toronto Pearson is one of the world's largest airports to run on a "common use equipment" model, whereby airport resources - such as check-in counters and boarding gates - can be accessed and utilised by any of the 60 airlines that the airport serves.

In future, IBM's technology will enable these airlines will be billed directly by IBM for access to these resources on a per usage basis, replacing the traditional bundle of landing fees and terminal charges currently calculated and billed by GTAA.

"Moving technology support and billing to IBM allows the GTAA to focus on what they do best - running Canada's largest airport and ensuring safe travel for passengers, while maximizing savings for the airlines and the GTAA," said Saad Toma, general manager, Global Technology Services, IBM Canada.