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Victoria International Airport serves
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...
, Canada. It is north northwest of Victoria on the
Saanich Peninsula Saanich Peninsula ( str, W̱SÁNEĆ) is located north of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is bounded by Saanich Inlet on the west, Satellite Channel on the north, the small Colburne Passage on the northeast, and Haro Strait on the east. The ...
, with the bulk of the airport (including the passenger terminal) in North Saanich, and a small portion of the airfield extending into Sidney. The airport is run by the Victoria Airport Authority. YYJ has many nonstop daily flights to
Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport is an international airport located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is located from Downtown Vancouver. It is the second busiest ...
(YVR, about 15 minutes), which is a major airport serving many global routes. Additionally, Victoria International has nonstop service to
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
(SEA),
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
(YYZ),
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
(YUL, summer only),
Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
(YYC),
Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
(YEG), and several smaller cities in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
and
Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
. The airport also has seasonal (late fall to early spring) nonstop service to several Mexican resort destinations. Non-stop service between Victoria and the United States decreased by 50% in the beginning of September 2019 when Delta Airlines permanently ended its three daily flights, after which only Alaska Airlines will fly the Victoria - Seattle route. Victoria International Airport is classified as an
airport of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internatio ...
by
Nav Canada Nav Canada (styled as NAV CANADA) is a privately run, not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation system (ANS). It was established in accordance with the ''Civil Air Navigation Services Commercialization Act' ...
and is staffed by the
Canada Border Services Agency The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cu ...
(CBSA). CBSA officers at this airport can handle aircraft with no more than 450 passengers, when unloaded from the aircraft in stages, or 120 normally. YYJ does not have United States customs and border preclearance, however many passengers fly first to Vancouver International Airport (YVR), which does have U.S. preclearance. In 2018, YYJ served 2,048,627 passengers and had 120,936 aircraft movements, making it Canada's 11th busiest airport in terms of passengers. It was British Columbia's third busiest airport in terms of passengers and aircraft movements. Like most airports that are run by local authorities in Canada, YYJ charges an
airport improvement fee An airport improvement fee or embarkation fee or airport tax or service charge or service fee is an additional fee charged to departing and connecting passengers at an airport. It is levied by government or an airport management corporation and ...
for each outgoing passenger. As of December 2018, it was $15.00 per departing passenger. AIF fees are usually added to fares and collected automatically by most airlines.


History

The airport started in 1939 as a grass strip, and was used as a military training airfield.British Columbia Aviation Museum
During the early part of WWII (1940 - 1941), the airfield was used as Royal Air Force Station Patricia Bay, for training personnel for basic flying training, preparatory to returning them to the UK. In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed as RCAF Aerodrome - Patricia Bay, British Columbia at with a variation of 24 degrees east and elevation of . The aerodrome was listed with three runways as follows: The airport is located beside
Patricia Bay Patricia Bay ("Pat Bay" to locals) is a body of salt water that extends east from Saanich Inlet and forms part of the shoreline of North Saanich, British Columbia. It lies due west of Victoria International Airport. A municipal park covers most of ...
, which, due to the prevalence of
flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
s at the time, proved to be an excellent location. The Department of Transport took over the airport in 1948. It was then called Victoria (Patricia Bay) Airport, and many locals still refer to it as the "Pat Bay Airport".
Trans-Canada Airlines Trans-Canada Air Lines (also known as TCA in English, and Trans-Canada in French) was a Canadian airline that operated as the country's flag carrier, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGrego ...
(later
Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and ...
) began regular service in 1943. The last
Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
(RCAF) unit left the airport in 1952. In the late 1980s the RCAF returned to the property when 443 Helicopter Squadron began operating
CH-124 Sea King The Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King is a twin-engined anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter designed for shipboard use by Canadian naval forces, based on the US Navy's Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, SH-3. It served with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and ...
ship-borne anti-submarine
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
s from Victoria International Airport. The RCAF refers to 443 Squadron operations at the airport as the Patricia Bay Heliport. In 1959, the airport was renamed the "Victoria International Airport". In 1997, as part of a broad scale restructuring of airports across Canada,
Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...
(formerly the Department of Transport), gave operational control of the airport to the Victoria Airport Authority. In 2000, the Victoria Airport Authority began the process of renovating and expanding the terminal to meet passenger needs. In 2002, the new "airside hold room" and the new "arrivals rotunda" were rebuilt. By 2005, the new "departures area" was completed. In May 2005, the federal government, which owns the land, announced a reduction in the rent paid by the Victoria Airport Authority. This will save $0.6 million Canadian each year and $12 million CAD over the life of the lease, which is 50 years. In July 2016, Westjet Airlines announced that they would be permanently ending service to Honolulu from Victoria. The non-stop route had started in 2009 and had ended due to the lack of demand. In September 2018, United Airlines announced that the daily United Express flight from Victoria to San Francisco would permanently end on 7 January 2019, concluding over a decade of daily non-stop service between the two cities. In March 2019, Delta Air Lines announced that all Delta flights from Victoria to Seattle would permanently end on 2 September 2019, concluding a three-year presence by the airline in Victoria and leaving Alaska Airlines as the only airline serving Victoria directly from Seattle or anywhere in the United States. Delta was the second airline to leave Victoria that year, after United Airlines withdrew service in January 2019.


Terminal

The main terminal has ten gates, organized as gates 3–4, 5–11, and 12–13. Gates 3-4 and 12-13 are equipped with aircraft loading bridges. There are three luggage carousels: two located at the arrivals area for domestic passengers, and one for international flights located inside the customs area. As of December 1, 2010, time limited, ad supported Wi-Fi internet service provided by
Telus Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voi ...
is available terminal wide.


Airlines and destinations

Nearly all commercial flights at Victoria fly either to Canadian domestic airports or to
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. Seasonal scheduled flights by
Air Transat Air Transat is a Canadian airline based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1986, it is the country's third-largest airline behind Air Canada and WestJet, operating scheduled and charter flights serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transa ...
,
Sunwing Airlines Sunwing Airlines Inc. is a Canadian low-cost airline headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Sunwing Airlines offers scheduled and charter services from Canada and the United States to destinations within the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, ...
, and
WestJet WestJet Airlines Ltd. is a Canadian airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, near Calgary International Airport. It is the second-largest Canadian airline, behind Air Canada, operating an average of 777 flights and carrying more than 66,130 ...
also connect Victoria to tourist destinations in Mexico. For the Summer 2017 season,
Air Canada Rouge Air Canada Rouge, ''Rouge'' meaning "red" in French, is a subsidiary of Air Canada. It is fully integrated into the Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Express networks; flights are sold with AC flight numbers but are listed as "operated by Ai ...
operated wide-body
Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
s on its daily flights to
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...


Passenger


Cargo


Statistics


Annual traffic


Development plans

Victoria Airport Authority's 2008 master plan laid out a timeline of proposed changes to the airport.


Year 1–5

* Full parallel
taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...
east to runway 09/27 (completed) * New taxiway exit from runway 09 to taxiway S * New maintenance facility and fire hall on the west side of the airport (completed) * First phase of
apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...
IV expansion to accommodate interim demand (completed) * Extend approach lighting on runway 27 by * Additional terminal building public parking (completed) * Construct a bicycle/walking path around the perimeter of the airport property (completed) * Add two new passenger loading bridges (completed) * New military hangar to store new
Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
(RCAF)
Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone The Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone is a twin-engine, multi-role shipboard helicopter developed by the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation for the Canadian Armed Forces. A military variant of the Sikorsky S-92, the CH-148 is designed for shipboard operations ...
helicopters (completed)


Year 6–10

* Upgrading of approach lighting on runway 09 (in progress) * Decommission taxiway D * Apron IV expansion to the north * New taxiway from apron IV to runway 03/21 * Construct a new
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
taxiway * Construct road access from Mills Road * Realign Willingdon Road to accommodate additional terminal building parking * First phase of terminal expansion (upper level hold room and two additional loading bridges)


Year 11–20

* New
Canada Border Services Agency The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cu ...
immigration and customs facility and US border preclearance area * North concourse terminal expansion * Construct a car parking structure * A runway expansion of 09/27


Flight training

There are several organisations that offer flight training at the airport: * Ocean Air Floatplanes (charter service, tours, float plane training using Cessna 180H) * Victoria Flying Club (small prop aircraft training, charter service, float plane, Multi-engine IFR Training, Red Bird Simulator) * Royal Canadian Air Cadets


Transportation to the airport

Victoria International Airport is 22 km from
downtown Victoria Downtown Victoria is a neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the city centre and the central business district for the City of Victoria, and the Greater Victoria regions. Characteristics The downtown area is an e ...
. It is served by taxi (Yellow Cab).
BC Transit BC Transit is a provincial crown corporation responsible for coordinating the delivery of public transportation within British Columbia, Canada, outside Greater Vancouver. BC Transit is headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia. In , the syst ...
routes 87 and 88 make connections to the airport. Passengers using BC Transit can connect with intercity (IslandLink Bus, or Tofino Bus Services) and regional coach service ( Pacific Coach Lines) in Victoria. By car, the airport is normally a 20-minute drive from downtown Victoria (with little or no traffic, and a 40-minute drive with traffic) via Highway 17. The airport has short term and long term/daily parking lots next to the terminal with an additional overflow lot. Rental lot is located to the southwest of the terminal building. A new interchange at Highway 17 and McTavish Road, the main highway access point to the airport, was completed in April 2011. Funding for the interchange was shared between the federal, provincial governments and Victoria Airport Authority.


Fire and rescue

Victoria International Airport Fire and Rescue operates three crash tenders and one support vehicle to deal with emergencies at the airport. The current station (Airport Fire Service and Airport Operations) opened in 2010 to replace the former station dating back to
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.


Fixed-base operations

* Shell Aerocentre * Vancouver Island Helicopters (VIH) *
Viking Air Viking Air Ltd. is a manufacturer of aircraft, as well as aircraft parts and systems, based at Victoria International Airport in North Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The company produces new versions of the DHC-6 Twin Otter, upgraded versi ...


See also

*
British Columbia Aviation Museum The British Columbia Aviation Museum is located in Sidney, British Columbia, Canada. It is on the grounds of the Victoria International Airport Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest o ...
*
List of airports in Greater Victoria The following active airports serve the Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada area: See also * List of airports in the Gulf Islands * List of airports in the Lower Mainland * List of airports in the Okanagan * List of airports in the Prin ...
**
Victoria Airport Water Aerodrome Victoria Airport Water Aerodrome is a seaplane base located north northwest of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, adjacent to Victoria International Airport. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by th ...
, adjacent to Victoria International Airport, seaplanes only ** Victoria Harbour (Camel Point) Heliport, helicopters only, adjacent to cruise ship terminal near downtown Victoria **
Victoria Inner Harbour Airport Victoria Inner Harbour Airport or Victoria Harbour Water Airport is located in Victoria Harbour, adjacent to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Transport Canada and is staffed by the Canada ...
, downtown Victoria, seaplanes only


References


External links


Victoria International Airport (official site)

''Victoria International Airport''
on COPA's ''Places to Fly'' airport directory


Onsite operators


Victoria (CYYJ) Shell Aerocentre
private aircraft, private jet charters.
VIH Aviation Group
helicopter services, private jet charters.
Viking Air
De Havilland, firefighting, aerial surveillance. {{authority control National Airports System Certified airports in British Columbia Saanich Peninsula Transport in the Capital Regional District Airports established in 1914 1914 establishments in British Columbia