Thunder Bay International Airport

Last updated
Thunder Bay Airport

Aéroport de Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay Airport logo.svg
Thunder Bay Airport 1.JPG
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner Transport Canada [1]
OperatorThunder Bay International Airports Authority
Serves Thunder Bay, Ontario
Time zone EST (UTC−05:00)
 • Summer (DST)EDT (UTC−04:00)
Elevation  AMSL 654 ft / 199 m
Coordinates 48°22′19″N089°19′18″W / 48.37194°N 89.32167°W / 48.37194; -89.32167
Website www.tbairport.on.ca
Map
Canada Ontario location map 2.svg
Airplane silhouette.svg
CYQT
Location in Ontario
Canada location map 2.svg
Airplane silhouette.svg
CYQT
CYQT (Canada)
Runways
Direction LengthSurface
ftm
07/257,3182,231Asphalt
12/305,2971,615Asphalt
Statistics (2016)
Aircraft movements94,836
Passengers807,041
Sources: Canada Flight Supplement [2]
Environment Canada [3]
Movements from Statistics Canada [4]
Passengers from Thunder Bay Airport Authority Inc. [5]
Logo prior to 2015 Thunder Bay International Airports Authority Logo.svg
Logo prior to 2015
Thunder Bay airport ramp side Thunder Bay Airport 3.JPG
Thunder Bay airport ramp side

Thunder Bay Airport( IATA : YQT, ICAO : CYQT) is an airport in the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. With 108,130 aircraft movements in 2012, it was the fourth busiest airport in Ontario and the 16th busiest airport in Canada. [4] During the same year, more than 761,000 passengers went through the airport. [5]

Contents

The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA officers at this airport can handle aircraft with up to 40 passengers. [2]

The reference of "International" in the name of the Thunder Bay International Airport Inc. (TBIAAI) is used for business purposes only. The TBIAAI has not sought to receive official Canadian designation as "International", in accordance with all applicable domestic and international requirements as defined by ICAO Annex 9.

History

It was built as the Fort William Municipal Airport in 1938, partly as a means of relieving unemployment. [6]

During World War II, the Thunder Bay (then Fort William) airport was home to No. 2 Elementary Flying Training School, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The airport was also used as a base for test flights of fighter aircraft being built at the nearby Canadian Car and Foundry factory.

Before the two cities of Fort William and Port Arthur merged, it was called the Canadian Lakehead Airport.

The airport went under major renovations in 1994 with the construction of a new airport terminal building, including two jetways, a large food court, a gift shop and an arcade.

The airport was handed over from the government in 1997 to the Thunder Bay International Airports Authority, a non-profit organization. The airport handled over 600,000 passengers in 2006 for the first time since 2001. [7]

Historical aerodrome information

In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed as RCAF & D of T Aerodrome - Fort William, Ontario at 48°22′N89°19′W / 48.367°N 89.317°W / 48.367; -89.317 with a variation of 01 degrees east and elevation of 645 ft (197 m). Three runways were listed as follows: [8]

Runway nameLengthWidthSurface
14/324,000 ft (1,200 m)500 ft (150 m)Turf
9/273,990 ft (1,220 m)500 ft (150 m)Turf
4/224,000 ft (1,200 m)500 ft (150 m)Turf

Historical airline jet service

A number of airlines served the airport with scheduled passenger jet service in the past from the late 1960s to the early 2000s. These air carriers along with the respective jetliner types they operated from the airfield are as follows:

According to various Official Airline Guide (OAG) editions as well as airline timetables, the majority of jet service operated by Canadian-based air carriers was nonstop or direct to Toronto and Winnipeg. U.S.-based North Central Airlines operated nonstop flights to Duluth with continuing no change of plane jet service to Chicago–O'Hare while successor Republic Airlines also flew nonstop to Duluth with continuing no change of plane jet service to Minneapolis/St. Paul and then on to Denver. [15] [17]

During the mid-1980s, three airlines were competing with nonstop service operated with mainline jet aircraft between Thunder Bay and Toronto: [9] Air Canada with Boeing 727-200 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 aircraft, Nordair with Boeing 737-200 aircraft and Pacific Western Airlines with Boeing 737-200 aircraft.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Air Canada Express Toronto–Pearson
Air Canada Rouge Toronto–Pearson
Bearskin Airlines Dryden, Fort Frances, Sault Ste. Marie, Sioux Lookout, Sudbury
Flair Airlines Seasonal: Toronto–Pearson
North Star Air Fort Hope/Eabametoong, Muskrat Dam, Neskantaga, Ogoki Post, Sachigo Lake, Sioux Lookout, Weagamow, Webequie
Porter Airlines Ottawa, Toronto–Billy Bishop
Sunwing Airlines Cancún, Varadero
Superior Airways Charter: Red Lake
Wasaya Airways Sioux Lookout
WestJet Seasonal: Calgary
WestJet Encore Winnipeg

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Cargojet Airways Winnipeg
FedEx Feeder Winnipeg
North Star Air On-demand Canadian and US destinations

Charter

AirlinesDestinations
Air Bravo On-demand charter
Thunder Airlines On-demand charter
North Star Air On-demand Canadian and US destinations

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at YQT airport. See Wikidata query.

Airside tenants

Thunder Bay Airport interior Thunder Bay Airport 2.JPG
Thunder Bay Airport interior

Groundside tenants

Parking and transportation

Vehicles can reach the airport via Ontario Highway 61 and connections with Harbour Expressway and Ontario Highway 11 into Thunder Bay's core.

The parking lot contains 100 short-term spaces, 300 long-term spaces, curbside taxi service and courtesy cars. Thunder Bay Transit bus route 14 Arthur serves the airport terminal and the nearby Aviation Centre of Excellence.

Infrastructure

The Thunder Bay International Airport has a three-storey terminal building.

Thunder Bay's runways are primarily used by small or larger turboprop and regional jet aircraft such as the Bombardier Q400 propjet and the CRJ900 regional jet; however, they are capable of accommodating narrow-body jetliners such as current generation Boeing 737 aircraft operated Flair Airlines and on charter or occasional services operated by Air Transat, Sunwing Airlines and WestJet. Historically, the airport routinely handled Boeing 727-200, Boeing 737-200 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 mainline jet aircraft as well as the smaller Fokker F28 Fellowship twin jet in the past. Other larger jet aircraft types have also landed at the airport in the past with examples including a Boeing 720 operated by American Airlines in 1962, Boeing 757-200 and wide body Airbus A310 aircraft operated by Royal Aviation subsidiary Royal Airlines in 1999 and 2000, and a wide body Boeing 747SP operated as the "Global Peace Ambassadors" aircraft for Christian preacher K.A. Paul in 2005.[ citation needed ] The largest aircraft to land in Thunder Bay is the Antonov AN-124 which made four cargo trips direct from Austria between August 2017 and April 2018 with rail car parts for Bombardier.

The airport also has two fixed-base operators: Innotech Aviation Services for Shell Aviation, and Thunder Bay Flight Refuelling for World Fuel Services.

Incidents and accidents

On 6 April 2009, Yavuz Berke, a 31-year-old Turkish-born Canadian student at the Aviation Centre of Excellence at Confederation College, stole its Cessna 172 at Thunder Bay airport and went for a joy ride. He crossed into US airspace where he was intercepted by two US Air Force F-16 fighter jets. He later landed on US Highway 60. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Roberts International Airport</span> Airport in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Owen Roberts International Airport is an airport serving Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It is the main international airport for the Cayman Islands as well as the main base for Cayman Airways. The airport is named after British Royal Air Force (RAF) Wing Commander Owen Roberts, a pioneer of commercial aviation in the country, and is one of the two entrance ports to the Cayman Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport</span> Third busiest airport serving the Tampa Bay area, Florida, United States

St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport is a public/military airport in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay Area. It is right on the northeast municipal boundary of Pinellas Park, 9 miles (14 km) north of downtown St. Petersburg, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Clearwater, and 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Tampa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Key West International Airport</span> International airport in Key West, Florida

Key West International Airport is an international airport located in the City of Key West in Monroe County, Florida, United States, 2 miles east of the main commercial center of Key West.

Panama City–Bay County International Airport(IATA: PFN, ICAO: KPFN, FAA LID: PFN) was a public airport 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Panama City, in Bay County, Florida. It was owned and operated by the Panama City–Bay County Airport and Industrial District. All airline services moved to the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport on May 22, 2010, but the airfield was open to general aviation aircraft until October 1, 2010. The grounds will eventually be turned over to LUK-MB1 LLC, which plans to remove the runways and build homes, shops, walking trails and a marina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmonton International Airport</span> International airport serving Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Edmonton International Airport, as of August 29, 2022, officially branded YEG Edmonton International Airport is the primary air passenger and air cargo facility in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region of the Canadian province of Alberta. Designated as an international airport by Transport Canada and operated by Edmonton Airports, it is located 14 nautical miles south southwest of Downtown Edmonton in Leduc County on Highway 2 opposite of the city of Leduc. The airport offers scheduled non-stop flights to major cities in Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport</span> International airport serving Winnipeg, Canada

Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport is a Transport Canada designated international airport located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the seventh busiest airport in Canada by passenger traffic, serving 3,031,113 passengers in 2022, and the 11th busiest airport by aircraft movements. It is a hub for passenger airlines Calm Air, Perimeter Airlines, Flair Airlines, and cargo airline Cargojet. It is also a focus city for WestJet. The airport is co-located with Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlottetown Airport</span> Airport in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Charlottetown Airport is located 3 nautical miles north of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The airport is currently run by the Charlottetown Airport Authority, is owned by Transport Canada and forms part of the National Airports System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billings Logan International Airport</span> Public airport in Billings, Montana, United States

Billings Logan International Airport is in the western United States, two miles northwest of downtown Billings, in Yellowstone County, Montana. It is the fourth largest airport in Montana, having been surpassed in recent years by Bozeman, Missoula, and Flathead County (Kalispell) in both number of gates as well as annual enplanements. Owned by the city of Billings, the airport is on top of the Rims, a 500-foot (150 m) cliff overlooking the downtown core, and covers 2,500 acres of land.

Air Ontario Inc. was a regional Canadian airline headquartered in Sarnia then London, Ontario. In 2002, Air Ontario became Air Canada Jazz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelowna International Airport</span> International airport in British Columbia, Canada

Kelowna International Airport is a Canadian airport located approximately 10 minutes or 6.2 nautical miles northeast of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, on Highway 97.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Combi aircraft</span> Aircraft that can carry passengers and/or cargo

Combi aircraft in commercial aviation are aircraft that can be used to carry either passengers as an airliner, or cargo as a freighter, and may have a partition in the aircraft cabin to allow both uses at the same time in a mixed passenger/freight combination. The name combi comes from the word combination. The concept previously existed in railroading, as a passenger car that contained a separate compartment for mail and/or baggage.

Lethbridge Airport, previously Lethbridge County Airport, is located 4 nautical miles south southeast of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. It is 10–15 driving minutes from downtown Lethbridge, and has scheduled service to the city of Calgary, Alberta. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on a call-out basis from the Sweetgrass-Coutts Border Crossing. CBSA officers at this airport can handle general aviation aircraft only, with no more than 15 passengers. The airport hosts the biennial Lethbridge International Airshow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport</span> Airport in Yukon, Canada

Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport is an airport of entry located in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. It is part of the National Airports System, and is owned and operated by the Government of Yukon. The airport was renamed in honour of longtime Yukon Member of Parliament Erik Nielsen on December 15, 2008. The terminal handled 294,000 passengers in 2012, representing a 94% increase in passenger traffic since 2002. By 2017, this number had risen to 366,000. Air North is based in Whitehorse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resolute Bay Airport</span> Airport in Nunavut, Canada

Resolute Bay Airport is located at Resolute, Nunavut, Canada, and is operated by the government of Nunavut. It is one of the northernmost airfields in Canada to receive scheduled passenger airline service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juneau International Airport</span> International airport serving Juneau, Alaska, United States

Juneau International Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport and seaplane base located seven nautical miles northwest of the central business district of Juneau, a city and borough in the U.S. state of Alaska that has no direct road access to the outside world. The airport serves as a regional hub for all air travel, from bush carriers to major U.S. air carriers such as Alaska Airlines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glacier Park International Airport</span> Airport in Montana, United States

Glacier Park International Airport is in Flathead County, Montana, United States, six miles northeast of Kalispell. The airport is owned and operated by the Flathead Municipal Airport Authority, a public agency created by the county in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmonton City Centre Airport</span> Former airport in Alberta, Canada

Edmonton City Centre Airport (ECCA), also called Blatchford Field as well as Edmonton Municipal Airport, was an airport within the city of Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transair (Canada)</span>

Transair was an airline based in Canada. It was purchased by Pacific Western Airlines in 1979. Transair's operational headquarters was located at the Winnipeg International Airport in Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JAGS McCartney International Airport</span> Airport in Grand Turk Island

JAGS McCartney International Airport, also known as Grand Turk International Airport, is an airport located 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Cockburn Town on Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is the second largest airport in the territory, after Providenciales International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intrastate airline</span> Carrier operating within one US state

Intrastate airlines in the U.S. are defined as air carriers operating inside of one individual state and thus not flying across state lines. Larger intrastate airlines in the U.S. that operated mainline turboprop and/or jet aircraft were created as a result of former federal airline regulations, as passenger air carriers that only flew intrastate service were not regulated by the federal government but were instead primarily regulated by the respective state governments in their home states. For example, Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) and Air California were both regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) prior to the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Although intrastate airlines in some states used only turboprop aircraft, scheduled passenger service on jet aircraft was operated by intrastate air carriers in California, Florida, Hawaii and Texas.

References

  1. ↑ "National Airports Policy (NAP): Airports Transfer Plan Updated October 01, 2005". www.tc.gc.ca. Transport Canada. Archived from the original on May 1, 2006.
  2. 1 2 Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 16 July 2020 to 0901Z 10 September 2020.
  3. ↑ "Synoptic/Metstat Station Information". weatheroffice.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  4. 1 2 Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics. "Aircraft Movement Statistics: NAV CANADA Towers and Flight Service Stations: Annual Report (TP 577): Table 2-1 — Total aircraft movements by class of operation — NAV CANADA towers". www.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 29 March 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 "Error Occurred - Utopia Control Panel" (PDF). www.tbairport.on.ca. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ "Error Occurred - Utopia Control Panel" (PDF). www.tbairport.on.ca. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  8. ↑ Staff writer (c. 1942). Pilots Handbook of Aerodromes and Seaplane Bases Vol. 1. Royal Canadian Air Force. p. 112.
  9. 1 2 3 "Official Airline Guide (OAG)". Feb. 15, 1985 edition, Toronto-Thunder Bay schedules.
  10. ↑ "Official Airline Guide (OAG)". April 2, 1995 edition, Toronto-Thunder Bay schedules.
  11. ↑ "Official Airline Guide (OAG)". June 1, 1999 edition, Toronto-Thunder Bay schedules.
  12. 1 2 3 "Airline Timetable Images". www.timetableimages.com.
  13. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, Summer 2003 Jetsgo timetable
  14. ↑ "Official Airline Guide (OAG)". Nov. 15, 1979 edition, Toronto-Thunder Bay schedules.
  15. 1 2 "North Central Airlines system timetable". Oct. 29, 1967 edition.
  16. ↑ "Official Airline Guide (OAG)". Nov. 15, 1979 edition, Duluth-Thunder Bay schedules.
  17. ↑ "Republic Airlines system timetable". July 1, 1979 edition.
  18. ↑ "Maintair Aviation Services Ltd". www.maintair.com.
  19. ↑ "Canadian jailed 2 years for stealing plane". thestar.com. November 4, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.