Sudbury Airport or Greater Sudbury 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

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

city of

Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and to ...

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 ...

and is located northeast of the downtown area, on Municipal Road 86 between the communities of Garson and Skead. Although in many contexts the airport uses the name Greater Sudbury Airport, its official name, as registered with

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 ...

and printed in all aeronautical publications, is still simply Sudbury Airport. The 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. Internat ...

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 serviced 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) on a call-out basis from the

North Bay/Jack Garland Airport North Bay Airport or North Bay/Jack Garland Airport in North Bay, Ontario, Canada is located at Hornell Heights, north-northeast of the city. It is located adjacent to Canadian Forces Base North Bay, operational since 1951 (as RCAF Station Nor ...

. CBSA officers at this airport currently can handle

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 ...

aircraft only, with no more than 15 passengers. The airport is served primarily by regional carrier lines such as Air Canada Express,

Bearskin Airlines Bearskin Lake Air Service LP, operating as Bearskin Airlines, is a regional airline based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It is a division of Perimeter Aviation and operates services in northern Ontario and Manitoba. Its main base is at Thunde ...

, and Porter Airlines. It is also a base of

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 service and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment wildfire service.

History

Sudbury Airport began as an emergency landing facility with a single landing strip for

CF-100 The Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck (affectionately known as the "Clunk") is a Canadian twinjet Interceptor aircraft, interceptor/fighter aircraft, fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Avro Canada. It has the distinction of being t ...

s from

CFB North Bay Canadian Forces Base North Bay, also CFB North Bay, is an air force base located at the City of North Bay, Ontario about north of Toronto. The base is subordinate to 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the centre for North Ame ...

in 1952.''125 Magazine, Greater Sudbury 1883-2008'', Laurentian Media Magazine Group, 2008 On February 25, 1953, the Sudbury Airport Committee was formed to lobby and arrange for commercial flights to Sudbury. A second landing strip and a terminal building had to be built and construction of these were completed in 1955. Regular commercial air service began on February 1, 1954, by

Trans-Canada Air Lines 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 McGreg ...

. The

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

tower was added in 1972 and the terminal building was replaced with a larger one in 1973, which was renovated and expanded again in the early 2000s. From 1972 to 2000, Sudbury Airport was owned by the

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

and operated by the transportation department of Sudbury. On March 31, 2000, the airport ownership and management were transferred to the Sudbury Airport Community Development Corporation (SACDC). In 2005,

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, ...

offered direct flights to

Varadero, Cuba Varadero (), also referred to as ''Playa Azul'' (Blue Beach), is a resort town in the province of Matanzas, Cuba, and one of the largest resort areas in the Caribbean. Varadero Beach was rated one of the world's best beaches in TripAdvisor's Trav ...

from the Sudbury airport every Wednesdays for the 2005 - 2006 winter season. Other destinations were added in the following years. In June 2008, under recommendation from Nav Canada following a year-long aeronautical study, the

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

was closed mainly due to lack of traffic. The airport is now staffed 24 hours as a

flight service station A flight service station (FSS) is an air traffic facility that provides information and services to aircraft pilots before, during, and after flights, but unlike air traffic control (ATC), is not responsible for giving instructions or clearances o ...

. In March 2012, after

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 ...

confirmed its plans to launch a regional airline, Gregg Saretsky said in an interview with ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' that Sudbury was one of the cities where the company was considering expanding its service. However, Sudbury was not chosen as a destination. The manager of the airport suggested in 2014 that the airport would have to see considerable growth in passenger traffic before WestJet would consider returning to Sudbury. In February 2017, WestJet did return to Sudbury using

WestJet Encore WestJet Encore is a Canadian regional airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta that operates feeder flights for WestJet, owned by the same parent company WestJet Airlines, Ltd. In response to internal market studies about future growth limita ...

for three daily flights to Toronto's Pearson International Airport, but stopped again in October 2018. WestJet had previously operated flights between Sudbury and

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

between 2001 and 2004. Airport tenants include a training facility operated by

MAG Aerospace MAG Aerospace is an American-owned military contractor based in Fairfax, Virginia, founded by Joe Fluet in 2009. It specializes in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services operations, training and technical services and clocked 98,0 ...

and the

Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry The Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry is a government ministry of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for Ontario's provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, mineral aggregates and the Crown lands ...

's Sudbury Forest Fire Management Centre. Intercity Transport Hubs in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

COVID-19 had impact to carrier flights serving the airport post pandemic when other markets had seen traffic volumes significantly recover. With drastic cuts on its regional fleet, Air Canada is down to two direct flights to Toronto Pearson a day with no direct competition. Fares for same week return travel with Air Canada have recently exceeded $US1100 though one way flight time is under 60 minutes. Porter is down to one flight a day but with no same day return service when flying from Toronto Island.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Medivac

*Thunder Airlines *Air Bravo Corp

References

External links

Greater Sudbury Airport official website
{{authority control Certified airports in Ontario Transport buildings and structures in Greater Sudbury