Abbotsford International Airport is located in

Abbotsford, British Columbia Abbotsford is a city located in British Columbia, adjacent to the Canada–United States border, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser River. With an estimated population of 153,524 people it is the largest municipality in the province outside metro ...

, Canada, southwest of the city centre. It is the second largest airport in the

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 Cana ...

region of British Columbia, after

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 busie ...

(YVR), and is in close proximity to

British Columbia Highway 1 Highway 1 is a provincial highway in British Columbia, Canada, that carries the main route of the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH). The highway is long and connects Vancouver Island, the Greater Vancouver region in the Lower Mainland, and the In ...

, and the US border. It is located about from downtown

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

. 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 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 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 c ...

(CBSA) for all scheduled international arrivals. CBSA also provides clearance services to all

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 with no more than 15 passengers. Abbotsford Airport has a longstanding general aviation community and an established

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and ast ...

community, including

Cascade Aerospace Cascade Aerospace Inc. of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada is a specialty aerospace and defence contractor, focused on providing long-term integrated aircraft support programs for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), military, government ...

, 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, Principal Air and Chinook Helicopters. YXX is highly visible to the public due to the

Abbotsford International Airshow The Abbotsford International Airshow is held annually on the second Friday, Saturday and Sunday in August at Abbotsford International Airport in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. It is Canada's largest airshow. In the mid-1970s, Abbotsford w ...

, Defense & Security Expo, and Tradex events centre. There are approximately of land immediately available for airside and landside development. In 2008, 503,693 passengers passed through Abbotsford International Airport and 477,087 in 2014. In 2018, the airport announced it will undergo a $5 million, 14-000 square foot expansion to add new gates and additional passenger seating capacity.

History

World War II (1940-1945)

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 was complete. The same year, under 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 ...

, 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 Boundary Bay Airport or Vancouver/Boundary Bay Airport is located beside Boundary Bay and east of Ladner in Delta, British Columbia, Canada, south southeast of Vancouver and close to the Point Roberts-Boundary Bay border crossing. The airp ...

Aerodrome information

In approximately 1942, the aerodrome was listed at with a Var. 23.5 degrees E and no listed elevation. The aerodrome was listed as "Under construction - Servicable" and had three runways as follows:

Post war (1945-1997)

Following

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the airport was largely used for

and as a secondary field to

. Prior to the use of

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 ...

s, fog could make Vancouver Airport unusable and flights had to land at Abbotsford. If a big earthquake floods or otherwise damages low-lying Vancouver Airport on Sea Island in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

, then as many flights as possible will likely be looking to land at Abbotsford Airport. 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 Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...

. In September 1984

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

held an open-air mass for over 200,000 people at the airport.

Current (1997-Present)

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 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 ...

. Prior, Airspeed Aviation had been the exclusive operator offering regional service to Victoria, B.C. since 1986.

Canada 3000 Canada 3000 Airlines Inc. was a Canadian discount charter airline offering domestic and international flights. It was the largest charter airline in the world at the time of its operation, with over 90 destinations worldwide, although it changed ...

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 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 an ...

, Air Canada Tango, Air Canada Jazz,

Air North Air North Charter and Training Ltd., operating as , is a Canadian airline based in Whitehorse, Yukon. It operates scheduled passenger and cargo flights throughout Yukon, as well as between Yukon and the Northwest Territories, British Columbia ...

Central Mountain Air Central Mountain Air Ltd. is a Canadian regional airline based in Smithers, British Columbia. It operates scheduled, charter, and transborder services. Its main base is Smithers Airport, with other bases at Calgary International Airport and Va ...

Helijet Helijet International is a helicopter airline and charter service based in Richmond, British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mou ...

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. ...

, Signature Vacations,

Zoom Airlines Zoom Airlines Inc. was a Canadian low-fare scheduled transatlantic airline with its headquarters in the Place Bell Canada building in Ottawa, Ontario. Zoom operated year-round scheduled services to Europe, and charter services to South Am ...

Harmony Airways Harmony Airways was an airline headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, a suburb of Vancouver. It operated holiday flights from Canada to Mexico, Hawaii and Las Vegas, Nevada. Its main base was Vancouver International Airport.Flight ...

, Peace Air and ZIP Air. In 2010, a new parallel taxiway was added alongside runway 07/25, and the main airport apron was extended. An aircraft run-up bay that can accommodate up to three medium weight category aircraft at the same time was added near the Cascade Aerospace hangar. From 2017, Abbotsford International Airport began to see a resurgence in air passenger numbers, with the introduction of service to

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 an ...

and

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, maki ...

with

. In 2018, Flair Airlines introduced additional flights to

, and new flights to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

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 Hamilto ...

. Swoop, WestJet's ULCC subsidiary, began similar operations, with flights to Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, London (ON),

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

, and seasonal flights to Mazatlan and

Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalaj ...

. Air Canada Rouge used to offer seasonal service 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 anch ...

between June and October since 2015. This service was initially suspended in 2019 due to the

Boeing 737 MAX groundings The Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and December 2020longer in many jurisdictionsafter 346 people died in two crashes: Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on Ma ...

and once again in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. It has never been returned ever since.

Airshow

Since 1962, the airport has hosted the annual

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. 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. The International Council of Airshows awarded a Silver Pinnacle Award to the airshow in 2014.ICAS Announces Inaugural Pinnacle Awards Recipients
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Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Annual traffic

Ground transportation

The airport is serviced by Central Fraser Valley Transit Route 21, which connects Aldergrove with Bourquin Exchange in Abbotsford. Per the rider guide dated 2017-09-03, it is unlikely that this service will be useful to airline passengers. The airport is served by Ebus, on their route between Vancouver and Kamloops/Kelowna and Rider Express on their route from Vancouver to Calgary. Ebus is a carrier based in Alberta.

References

External links

*
Abbotsford Airport
on COPA's ''Places to Fly'' airport directory
List of where airlines fly from the Abbotsford Airport
{{authority control Abbotsford Military airbases in British Columbia Certified airports in British Columbia Abbotsford Transport in Abbotsford, British Columbia 1943 establishments in Canada