Windsor International Airport is located in the southeast portion of the city of

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

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. The airport serves a mixture of scheduled airline flights and

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 ...

, and is a popular point of entry into Canada for private and business aircraft. The airspace above the airport is exceptionally busy because of the proximity to

Detroit Metropolitan Airport Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport , usually called Detroit Metro Airport, Metro Airport, or simply DTW, is a major international airport in the United States covering effective December 30, 2021. in Romulus, Michigan. It is the primar ...

, and

Instrument Flight Rules In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...

(IFR) arrivals and departures are handled by Detroit approach control. 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. Internatio ...

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 up to 325 passengers, and can handle up to 450 if the aircraft is unloaded in stages.

History

The airport opened in 1928 as , named after

Hiram Walker Hiram Walker (July 4, 1816 – January 12, 1899) was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd. distillery in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Walker was born in East Douglas, Massachusetts, and moved to Detroit in 1838. He p ...

, a 19th-century whiskey distiller and distributor of the

Canadian Club Canadian Club is a brand of Canadian whisky produced by Beam Suntory. Popularly known as CC, Canadian Club was created by Hiram Walker and Sons, an evolution of a brand around a product that took place over the second half of the nineteenth ce ...

brand. In 1967, the airport was added to the national portfolio of Canadian airports, citing its increasing importance as a regional airport hub for

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...

, serving the areas between

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, and

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, and well expanding beyond its original roots as a mere landing strip.

Recent history

In 2006, Serco Aviation Services, Inc., announced that they would request early termination of their airport management contract with the City of Windsor, as Windsor Airport had been losing around

CAD$ The Canadian dollar (currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can ...

40,000 per month. The City of Windsor accepted Serco's withdrawal and prepared to operate the airport itself, but with a large deficit. On July 1, 2007, Serco handed over operations of the airport to the City of Windsor.

Windsor City Council The Windsor City Council is the governing body of Windsor, 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 b ...

had approved of an ''ad hoc'' group to run the airport on behalf of the city, named "Your Quick Gateway (Windsor) Inc." (after the airport's ICAO call letters, YQG). This private organization was formed by the Windsor City Council, and was supposed to be a "temporary band-aid solution" until another operator was found. However, on November 14, ''

The Windsor Star The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. History The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...

'' reported that since Your Quick Gateway had been so successful in managing the airport, posting a small profit in the process, it would be given permission to operate the facility indefinitely in this manner. The airport has additional land bounded by farm land along Division Road and Lauzon Parkway for future airport expansion. Windsor Airport 1

In 2012, ''The Windsor Star'' reported that airport traffic had increased over 160% since 2008, with over 250,000 passengers passing through the airport in 2012, its busiest year ever. This has widely been attributed to aggressive efforts to attract more flights to existing destinations, and to new destinations. In 2011, Porter Airlines began flying from Windsor to Toronto (

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is a regional airport located on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is often referred to as Toronto Island Airport and was previously known as ''Port George VI Island Airport'' and ''Toronto ...

) and Porter declared that Windsor is one of its most successful new markets. However, 37% of the local market still uses Detroit Metro Airport as its airport of choice. In early October 2013, the City of Windsor announced it would invest $14.1 million into the airport to create a multi-modal cargo terminal. The project is expected to create approximately 105 jobs for the City of Windsor and has the potential to create thousands of jobs. The first tenant for the new cargo hub at Windsor Airport would be

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 ...

which signed a 20-year lease to run the hub and it was moved into the facility by December 1, 2015. In 2016 the airport handled 331,000 passengers. In June 2020,

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 ...

ended its Windsor to

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 ...

service due to the financial impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Tenants

*364 Royal Canadian Air Cadets * Windsor Flying Club *

Canadian Historical Aircraft Association The Canadian Historical Aircraft Association is the former name of the Canadian Aviation Museum, a non-profit organization based in Windsor, Ontario which is committed to preserving aircraft which have significance to the history of Canadian aviatio ...

* Journey Air/ Great Lakes Flight Centre * Georgian Express * Skyservice

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, ...

(FBO) *

AAR Corp AAR CORP. is a private provider of aviation services. AAR is headquartered in Wood Dale, Illinois, a Chicago suburb near O'Hare International Airport. The company employs 4,700 people worldwide. History AAR Corp was founded in 1951. I.A. Allen ...

. - airframe maintenance (MRO)

Technical information

General

* Latitude/Longitude: 42° 16' 32" N, 82° 57' 20" W * Elevation: * Magnetic variation: 7° W The airport is operated by Your Quick Gateway on behalf of the City of Windsor, is certified by

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 operates as an airport of entry with Canadian customs services available. There is a landing fee for some aircraft.

Runways

* Runway 07/25: , asphalt, lighted, PAPI type 2 approach lighting for both ends * Runway 12/30: , asphalt, lighted, PAPI type 2 approach lighting for both ends

Communications

Remote Communications Outlet Remote communications outlets (RCO) are remote aviation band radio transceivers, established to extend the communication capabilities of Flight Information Centres (FIC) and flight service stations (FSS). Pilots can find RCO frequencies in charts ...

(RCO): London Radio, 123.375 MHz *

Automatic Terminal Information Service Automatic terminal information service, or ATIS, is a continuous broadcast of recorded aeronautical information in busier terminal areas, i.e. airports and their immediate surroundings. ATIS broadcasts contain essential information, such as current ...

(ATIS): 134.5 MHz * Ground control: 121.7 MHz *

Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

: 124.7 MHz (mandatory frequency when tower is closed) * IFR arrivals and departures: Detroit Approach Control, 124.9 MHz *

Visual Flight Rules In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better ...

(VFR) advisories: Windsor-area Detroit Approach Control, 126.85 MHz

Navigation aids

Non-directional beacon A non-directional beacon (NDB) or non-directional radio beacon is a radio beacon which does not include directional information. Radio beacons are radio transmitters at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. NDB are ...

s (NDB): Windsor (QG), 353 kHz, 250° to airport; Laurel (ZQG), 398 kHz, 70° to airport *

Instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

(ILS): runway 25 (IQG)

Fixed-base operator (FBO)

Parking is available from the airport operator; there is a charge for parking longer than six hours. * Great Lakes Flight Centre (Esso Avitat): 122.95 MHz—100LL avgas and Jet-A fuel

Fire and rescue

Category 6 ARFF coverage is provided by airport employees. Two E-One ARFF crash vehicles are stationed at the airport firehall. Essex-Windsor EMS provides medical assistance at the airport.

Statistics

References

External links

Official website

Journey Air Pilot Training

Windsor Flying Club - flight training

Live Airport Radar

Southwestern Ontario Digital Archive: Airport, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
{{Windsor, Ontario Transport in Windsor, Ontario Certified airports in Essex County, Ontario