Fort Nelson Airport

Northern Rockies Regional Airport

Fort Nelson Airport
Fort Nelson Airport, BC
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorNorthern Rockies Regional Municipality
LocationFort Nelson, British Columbia
Time zoneMST (UTC−07:00)
Elevation AMSL1,253 ft / 382 m
Coordinates58°50′11″N 122°35′49″W / 58.83639°N 122.59694°W / 58.83639; -122.59694
Websitehttps://www.northernrockies.ca/en/live-here/regional-airport.aspx
Map
CYYE is located in British Columbia
CYYE
CYYE
Location in British Columbia
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
04/22 6,402 1,951 Asphalt
08/26 3,587 1,093 Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Aircraft movements21,371

Northern Rockies Regional Airport (Fort Nelson Airport) (IATA: YYE, ICAO: CYYE) is located 3.8 nautical miles (7.0 km; 4.4 mi) east northeast of Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Central Mountain Air Prince George

History

Aerial image, 1944

The Northern Rockies Regional Airport was established in 1941[4] as part of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Northwest Staging Route and was used to ferry and refuel aircraft en route to Russia during World War II.[5] The building of the airport was logistically challenging, as Fort Nelson lies 180 air miles north-north-west of Fort St. John and required traveling over roads only passable in winter or dry weather, or via dog team along frozen rivers; in the summer months, material was carried by rail and then transported by steamship up the Athabasca, Slave and McKenzie rivers, and then via barge up the Liard and Fort Nelson rivers.[4] The first working runway was put in commission on Sept 1, 1941.[4]

In 1947 the airport was acquired by the Royal Canadian Air Force[5][6], and was listed as RCAF Aerodrome - Fort Nelson, British Columbia at 58°50′N 122°40′W / 58.833°N 122.667°W / 58.833; -122.667 with a variation of 34 degrees east and elevation of 1,170 ft (360 m). The aerodrome was listed as "Under Construction - Servicable" with two runways listed as follows:[7]

Runway name Length Width Surface
2/20 6,400 ft (2,000 m) 200 ft (61 m) Hard Surfaced
7/25 4,800 ft (1,500 m) 200 ft (61 m) Hard Surfaced

Historical airline service

Commencing during the early 1940s, scheduled passenger service was operated in the past by Canadian Pacific Air Lines and its successors CP Air and Canadian Airlines International to Vancouver, British Columbia; Edmonton, Alberta; Prince George, British Columbia; Fort St. John, British Columbia, Watson Lake, Yukon and Whitehorse, Yukon. CP Air served the airport with Boeing 737-200 jetliners during the 1970s with direct, no change of plane flights to all of the above destinations.[8][9] Other Canadian Pacific flights into the airport over the years were operated with such twin engine prop aircraft as the Lockheed Lodestar, the Douglas DC-3 and the Convair 240 as well as with the larger, four engine Douglas DC-6B propliner and the Bristol Britannia turboprop.[10] Another airline which served Fort Nelson during the mid 1970s was International Jetair operating nonstop flights several days a week to Inuvik with continuing one stop service to Whitehorse, Yukon flown with Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop aircraft.[11] In 1994, Canadian Partner code sharing service on behalf of Canadian Airlines International was being operated with de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 turboprops and/or Fokker F28 Fellowship jets to the airport from Vancouver, Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Fort St. John.[12]

See also

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  1. ^ Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 16 July 2020 to 0901Z 10 September 2020.
  2. ^ Synoptic/Metstat Station Information Archived December 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Total Aircraft movements by class of operation — NAV CANADA flight service stations
  4. ^ a b c Richard Goette and P. Whitney Lackenbauer, “Northern Skytrails: Perspectives on the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Arctic from the Pages of The Roudel, 1949-65.” The Roundel, 2017, xii. https://cmss.ucalgary.ca/sites/cmss.ucalgary.ca/files/dcass10.pdf
  5. ^ a b "History". www.northernrockies.ca. 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  6. ^ "RG17 Accession 1996-97/427" (PDF). Collections Canada. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  7. ^ Staff writer (c. 1942). Pilots Handbook of Aerodromes and Seaplane Bases Vol. 2. Royal Canadian Air Force. p. 135.
  8. ^ "July 15, 1970 CP Air system timetable". www.timetableimages.com. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  9. ^ North American Official Airline Guide (OAG), Feb. 1, 1976 edition, Fort Nelson flight schedules
  10. ^ "Dec. 1, 1943; Nov. 1, 1953; April 29, 1962 & April 24, 1966 Canadian Pacifio Air Lines system timetables". www.timetableimages.com. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  11. ^ "Oct. 28, 1973 International Jetair timetable". www.timetableimages.com. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  12. ^ Sept. 15, 1994 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Fort Nelson flight schedules
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