Mont-Tremblant International Airport (officially La Macaza – Mont-Tremblant International and formerly Rivière Rouge – Mont-Tremblant International Airport) is a single runway airport located in the township of La Macaza, north of the village, about north of

Mont-Tremblant Mont-Tremblant () is a city in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Canada, approximately northwest of Montreal and northeast of Ottawa, Ontario. The current municipality with city status was formed in 2000. Mont-Tremblant is most famous for i ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, Canada.

History

Military base

The airport was completed in 1962 for the

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) by

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

to military specifications, as an RCAF emergency landing field, with a runway of . It became home to 447 SAM Squadron, armed with 29 nuclear tipped

CIM-10 Bomarc The Boeing CIM-10 BOMARC (Boeing Michigan Aeronautical Research Center) (IM-99 Weapon System prior to September 1962) was a supersonic ramjet powered long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) used during the Cold War for the air defense of Nort ...

missiles. After 1968 the station became CFB La Macaza and closed as an active base in 1972 following the removal of the Bomarc missiles.

Civilian airfield

It was converted to be a civilian airport, and then turned into an international airport in 2000 despite a referendum held in the region in which the citizens of La Macaza opposed the project. In December 2007,

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started ...

began seasonal service to its Newark hub. The route operated at least until the winter of 2010–2011.

Federal prison

The area that was used for the Bomarc launchers was converted into the La Macaza Institution in 1978.

Facilities

The airport consists of a small chalet-style terminal building along the east side of the runway and south of the prison facility. There are no hangars for aircraft storage. 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 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) on a call-out basis from the Mirabel Airport. CBSA officers at this airport 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 about a 40-minute taxi ride from the resort at Mont Tremblant in good road conditions. It can take up to an hour in winter snow conditions as part of the road is secondary pavement with many twists and turns. The airport is served during the ski season and summer months by

Porter Airlines Porter Airlines (stylized in all lowercase as porter) is a regional airline headquartered at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Porter Aviation Holdings, formerly known as REGCO Hol ...

and between December and March by

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 ...

Airlines and destinations

Ground transportation

The airport has shuttle buses running from the airport to the

Mont Tremblant Resort Mont Tremblant Ski Resort (commonly referred to as Tremblant) is a year-round resort in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Canada, located about northwest of Montreal. It is best known as a ski destination, but also features Lake Tremblant ...

. Rental cars,

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

s and

limos Limos (; Ancient Greek: Λιμός means 'starvation'), Roman Fames , is the "sad" goddess or god of starvation, hunger and famine in ancient Greek religion. They were opposed by Demeter, goddess of grain and the harvest with whom Ovid wrote Li ...

are available for travel around Mont Tremblant International Airport.

Expansion plans

The airport operator is planning to expand the airport services by extending the runway to (to allow larger jets to land), building a larger terminal (moved to the north end of the runway from the current southeast side of the runway) and adding a water aerodrome (waterside terminal for floatplanes) on the south end of Lac Chaud.

References

External links

Official site
{{List of airports in Canada Certified airports in Laurentides