Thunder Bay International 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.
During the same year, more than 761,000 passengers went through the airport.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.
== History == It was built as the Fort William Municipal
Airport in 1938, partly as a means of relieving unemployment.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.
=== 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:
Air Canada (mainline service): Airbus A319, Boeing 727-200, McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30
Air Ontario: Fokker F28 Canadian Airlines International: Boeing 737-200
Canadian Regional Airlines: Fokker F28 CanJet: Boeing 737-200
Jetsgo: Fokker 100, McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Nordair: Boeing 737-200
North Central Airlines: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30
Pacific Western Airlines: Boeing 737-200 Republic Airlines (1979-1986): McDonnell Douglas
DC-9-30 Transair (Canada): Boeing 737-200, Fokker
F28 Vistajet: Boeing 737-200According 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 Airport while successor Republic Airlines
(1979-1986) also flew nonstop to Duluth with continuing no change of plane jet service
to Minneapolis/St. Paul and then on to Denver.During the mid 1980s, three airlines were competing
with nonstop service operated with mainline jet aircraft between Thunder Bay and Toronto:
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 ===
=== Cargo ===
=== Charter ===
== Tenants ==
CHC Helicopter for Ornge (Ontario Air Ambulance)Thunder Airlines for Ornge
Confederation College School of Aviation – Aviation Centre of Excellence
Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services
- seasonal firefighting aircraft base
== 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 2-storey terminal building.
Thunder Bay's runways are primarily used by small or larger turboprop aircraft such as
the Bombardier Q400 propjet; however, they are capable of accommodating narrow-body jetliners
such as current generation Boeing 737 aircraft operated by Air Transat, Sunwing Airlines
and WestJet.
As noted above, 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.The airport also has two fixed-base operators: Innotech Aviation Services for
Shell Aviation, and Thunder Bay Flight Refuelling for Esso Avitat.
== See also == List of airports in the Thunder Bay area