Abbotsford International Airport

The Abbotsford International Airport (IATA: YXX, ICAO: CYXX) is located in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, 2.2 nautical miles (4.1 km; 2.5 mi) southwest of the city centre. It is the second largest airport in the Lower Mainland, after Vancouver International Airport (YVR), and is in close proximity to British Columbia Highway 1, Vancouver, and the US border.

YXX offers daily domestic scheduled services and seasonal international scheduled services. The airport is equipped with a CAT 1 Instrument Landing System, on-site aircraft rescue and firefighting, and a fully serviced Air Terminal Building with customs and passenger screening. It is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for all scheduled international arrivals. CBSA also provides clearance services to all general aviation aircraft with no more than 15 passengers^[1]

The Abbotsford Airport has a longstanding general aviation community and an established aerospace community, including Cascade Aerospace, the Conair Group, and the University of the Fraser Valley Aerospace Centre. Abbotsford Airport is also home to the Abbotsford Shell Aerocentre FBO and flying schools, such as Coastal Pacific Aviation and Chinook Helicopters. YXX is highly visible to the public due to the Abbotsford Airshow, Aerospace, Defense & Security Expo, and Tradex events center.

There are approximately 87 hectares (215 acres) of land immediately available for airside and groundside development.

503,693 passengers passed through Abbotsford International Airport in 2008.^[5] and 477,087 in 2014.^[6]

History

The Royal Canadian Air Force purchased the land to build Abbotsford Airport in 1940. In 1943 the construction of the three runways based on a triangular layout (5,100 feet long by 200 feet wide) were complete. The same year, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the No. 24 Elementary Flying Training School started operations from this location until 1944. The No 5 Operational Conversion Unit was split between Abbotsford and Boundary Bay Airport.

Following World War II, the airport was largely used for general aviation and as a secondary field to Vancouver International Airport. Prior to the use of instrument landing systems, fog could make Vancouver unusable and flights had to land at Abbotsford.

The airport became the home to Skyways Air Services and Conair Aviation in the 1960s. Abbotsford is still the primary base for Conair's fleet of water bombers.

In September 1984 Pope John Paul II held an open-air mass for over 200,000 people at the airport.^[7]

On January 1, 1997 the ownership of the Abbotsford Airport was transferred from the Department of Transport to the City of Abbotsford for a sum of $10. In June of that year, Abbotsford became a jet passenger airport in with the start of scheduled service to Alberta by WestJet. Prior, Airspeed Aviation had been the exclusive operator offering regional service to Victoria, B.C. since 1986. Canada 3000 was the first airline to offer transcontinental service from Abbotsford to Toronto in June 2000. Abbotsford's first international charter flight was to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in December 2003 by tour operator Transat Holidays.

Since 2000 many airlines and tour operators have come and gone from Abbotsford, including Air Canada, Air Canada Tango, Air Canada Jazz, Air North, Canada 3000, Central Mountain Air, Helijet, Jetsgo, Signature Vacations, Zoom Airlines, Harmony Airways, Peace Air and ZIP Air.

In 2010, a new parallel taxiway as added alongside runway 07/25, and the main airport apron was extended. An aircraft runup bay that can accommodate up to three medium weight category aircraft at the same time was added near the Cascade Aerospace hangar.

Airshow

Since 1962, the airport has hosted the annual Abbotsford International Airshow usually held the second weekend in August. Designated as Canada's national airshow in the mid 1970s by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, it is Canada's largest airshow as well as one of North America's largest airshows. It has been listed as one of the ten best airshows in the world.^[8] it draws airplane enthusiasts from all over Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The static displays allow people to get up close to many of the exhibits while numerous performances decorate the skies above.^[9] The International Council of Airshows awarded a Silver Pinnacle Award to the airshow in 2014^[10]

Airlines and destinations

A Douglas DC-6 of Conair in 1983

Airlines	Destinations
Air Canada Rouge	Seasonal: Toronto–Pearson
Island Express Air	Boundary Bay, Nanaimo, Vancouver, Victoria
Orca Airways	Victoria
WestJet	Calgary, Edmonton, Las Vegas Seasonal: Puerto Vallarta
WestJet Encore	Edmonton

Public transit

The airport is serviced by Central Fraser Valley Route 21, which connect Aldergrove and Abbotsford with Bourquin Exchange in Abbotsford. Airport bus services on these routes are limited on peak hours.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abbotsford International Airport.

Official website
Abbotsford Airport on COPA's Places to Fly airport directory
List of where airlines fly from the Abbotsford Airport

Past three hours METARs, SPECI and current TAFs for Abbotsford International Airport from Nav Canada as available.

Airports in Canada

By name	A–B C–D E–G H–K L–M N–Q R–S T–Z

By location indicator	CA CB CC CD CE CF CG CH CI CJ CK CL CM CN CO CP CR CS CT CV CW CY CZ

By province/territory	AB BC MB NB NL NS NT NU ON PE QC SK YT

By region	Okanagan

National Airports System	Calgary Charlottetown Edmonton Fredericton Gander Halifax Iqaluit Kelowna London Moncton Montréal-Mirabel Montréal-Trudeau Ottawa Prince George Québec Regina Saint John St. John's Saskatoon Thunder Bay Toronto Vancouver Victoria Whitehorse Winnipeg Yellowknife

Related	List of airports by ICAO code: C List of the busiest airports in Canada List of defunct airports in Canada List of heliports in Canada List of international airports in Canada Operation Yellow Ribbon

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This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.