Thunder Bay Airport is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

in the city of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, 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 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 up to 40 passengers. 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.* Tronrud, Thorold J; Epp, Ernest A.; and others. (1995).
Thunder Bay: From Rivalry to Unity
''. Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, pp96. . During

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 ...

, 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 British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zea ...

. 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 An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft. Within the terminal, passengers purchase ...

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 aerodrome information

In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed as RCAF & D of T Aerodrome - Fort William, Ontario at with a variation of 01 degrees east and elevation of . Three runways were listed as follows:

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 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

* Air Ontario: Fokker F28 * Canadian Airlines International: Boeing 737-200 *

Canadian Regional Airlines Canadian Regional Airlines was an airline headquartered in Calgary International Airport in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is now part of Air Canada Jazz. Former code data *IATA code: KI *ICAO code: CDR *Callsign: Canadian Regional History ...

: Fokker F28 *

CanJet CanJet was a Canadian low-cost air carrier headquartered in Enfield, Nova Scotia and based at Halifax International Airport. In addition to initially flying scheduled passenger service, CanJet operated charter flights using its own brand as well ...

: Boeing 737-200 *

Jetsgo Jetsgo Corporation was a Canadian low-cost carrier based in the Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal. Jetsgo served 19 destinations across Canada, 10 destinations in the United States, and 12 scheduled weekend-charter destinations in the Caribbean ...

: Fokker 100,

McDonnell Douglas MD-80 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

* Nordair: Boeing 737-200 * North Central Airlines:

* Pacific Western Airlines: Boeing 737-200 * Republic Airlines (1979-1986):

* Transair (Canada): Boeing 737-200, Fokker F28 * Vistajet: Boeing 737-200 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 Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop business ...

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. 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

aircraft, Nordair with Boeing 737-200 aircraft and Pacific Western Airlines with Boeing 737-200 aircraft.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Charter

Statistics

Airside tenants

* Confederation College School of Aviation –

Aviation Centre of Excellence The Aviation Centre of Excellence, or ACE, is the aviation department facility for Confederation College The building consists of two hangars, classrooms, shops, labs, and offices for the three aviation programs available at the School of Aviati ...

* Hydro One - aviation hangar * Innotech Aviation - Shell Aviation FBO * Levaero Aviation - authorized

Pilatus Pilatus may refer to: People * Pontius Pilate (Latin: Pontius Pilatus, died 39 AD), Roman governor of Judea * Leontius Pilatus (died 1366), Greek Calabrian scholar * Rob Pilatus (1965–1998), artist and member of group Milli Vanilli Other uses * ...

dealer * Maintair Aviation Services - ground handling servicesMaintair Aviation Services
/ref> * Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services - seasonal firefighting aircraft base *

Ornge Ornge (formerly Ontario Air Ambulance Corporation and Ontario Air Ambulance Service) is a Canadian not-for-profit corporation and registered charity that provides air ambulance and associated ground transportation services for the province of ...

Air Ambulance - hangar and regional base * Thunder Bay Flight Refuelling -

World Fuel Services World Fuel Services Corporation (WFS, World Fuel) is an energy, commodities, and services company based in Doral, Florida. The company ranked No. 91 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations. WFS focuses on the mark ...

FBO * Wisk Air Helicopters

Groundside Tenants

* Aramark - groundside food services and bar, aircraft catering) *

Avis Avis is Latin for bird and may refer to: Aviation *Auster Avis, a 1940s four-seat light aircraft developed from the Auster Autocrat (abandoned project) *Avro Avis, a two-seat biplane *Scottish Aeroplane Syndicate Avis, an early aircraft built by ...

Budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...

* Driving Force *

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

* Passages Gift Shop - featuring local gifts and items * Pine Tree Catering - Nomad Cafe (airside food services)

Parking and transportation

Vehicles can reach the airport via

Ontario Highway 61 King's Highway 61, commonly referred to as Highway 61 and historically known as the Scott Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The route connects the Pigeon River Bridge, where it crosses into the U ...

and connections with Harbour Expressway and

Ontario Highway 11 King's Highway 11, commonly referred to as Highway 11, is a Ontario Provincial Highway Network, provincially maintained highway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. At , it is the second longest highway in the ...

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 Thunder Bay Transit is the public transit operator in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It was formed in 1970, after the amalgamation (politics), amalgamation of the cities of Port Arthur, Ontario, Port Arthur and Fort William, Ontario, Fort William ...

bus route 14 Arthur serves the airport terminal and the nearby

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 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

propjet and the

CRJ900 The Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000 are a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier (formerly Canadair) between 1999 and 2020. Their design was derived from t ...

regional jet; however, they are capable of accommodating narrow-body jetliners such as current generation

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

aircraft operated Flair Airlines and on charter or occasional services operated 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 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 ...

. Historically, the airport routinely handled Boeing 727-200, Boeing 737-200 and

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 The Boeing 720 is an American narrow-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Announced in July 1957 as a 707 derivative for shorter flights from shorter runways, the 720 first flew on November 23, 1959. Its type certificate was ...

operated by

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

in 1962,

Boeing 757-200 The Boeing 757 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the Boeing 727, 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. ...

and wide body Airbus A310 aircraft operated by

Royal Aviation Royal Aviation was the parent of Canadian scheduled passenger and charter airline, Royal Airlines, which was based in Montreal Dorval Airport. The airline was acquired in 2001 by Canada 3000, which in turn went bankrupt in the months following th ...

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 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.

References

External links

*
Thunder Bay Flight Information
{{authority control Certified airports in Ontario

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

National Airports System Royal Canadian Air Force stations Military airbases in Ontario Airports of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan Military history of Ontario