Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport (commonly known as Winnipeg International Airport or Winnipeg Airport) is a

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 Transporta ...

designated

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer r ...

located in

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 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada. It is the seventh busiest airport in Canada by passenger traffic, serving 4,484,343 passengers in 2018, and the 11th busiest airport by aircraft movements. It is a hub for passenger airlines

Calm Air Calm Air International LP. is a full service airline, offering passenger, charter and freight services in northern Manitoba and the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut. It is owned by Exchange Income Corporation with its main base in Winnipeg, Manitoba. ...

, Perimeter Airlines,

Flair Airlines Flair Airlines is a Canadian ultra low-cost carrier (ULCC) headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta. The airline operates scheduled passenger and chartered services with a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft. The company slogan is ''Plane and Simple.'' The a ...

, and cargo airline

Cargojet Cargojet Inc. () is a scheduled cargo airline based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It operates cargo services in Canada and internationally, as well as full aircraft charters. Its main base is John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport. Car ...

. It is also a focus city for

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 ...

. The airport is co-located with Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg. An important

transportation hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips. F ...

for the

province of Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

, Winnipeg International Airport is the only commercial

within the province as the other airports of entry serve

domestic flight A domestic flight is a form of commercial flight within civil aviation where the departure and the arrival take place in the same country. Airports serving domestic flights only are known as domestic airports. Domestic flights are generally ...

s 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 ...

only. The airport is operated by Winnipeg Airports Authority as part of Transport Canada's

National Airports System Canada's National Airport System (NAS) was defined in the National Airports Policy published in 1994. It was intended to include all airports with an annual traffic of 200,000 passengers or more, as well as airports serving the national, provincia ...

and is one of eight Canadian airports that has U.S. Border Pre-clearance facilities. Winnipeg's distance to other major population centres makes Winnipeg International Airport the primary airport for a large area including parts of neighbouring provinces and territories (

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...

, etc.). Daily non-stop flights are operated from Winnipeg International Airport to destinations across Canada as well as to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

. In addition, regularly scheduled flights to numerous small

remote communities In Canada, the designations remote, isolated, outport and fly-in refer to a settlement that is either a long distance from larger settlements or lacks transportation links that are typical in more populated areas. Definition In responding to t ...

in Northern Manitoba,

Northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the ...

, and

, are also served from the airport.

History

The airport opened in 1928 as Stevenson Aerodrome in honour of the noted Manitoba aviator and pioneer

bush pilot Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally ...

, Captain Fred J. Stevenson. Stevenson Aerodrome, also known as Stevenson Field, was Canada's first international airport with Northwest Airways (which became

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

) inaugurating a passenger and mail service between Winnipeg and Pembina, North Dakota on February 2, 1931. By 1935, Northwest Airlines was operating daily service from the airport with

Hamilton H-47 The Hamilton H-45 and H-47 were six-passenger-seat, all-metal, high-wing monoplanes powered by single Pratt & Whitney radial engines. They were built for passenger and mail-carrying work in the US in the late 1920s. Design and development The ...

prop aircraft on a routing of Winnipeg – Pembina, ND –

Grand Forks Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city ...

– Fargo – Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN –

Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

–

Chicago, IL (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. The City of Winnipeg and the Rural Municipality of St. James agreed to develop Stevenson Field as a modern municipal airport in 1936. In 1938 the Manitoba Legislative Assembly passed the ''St. James–Winnipeg Airport Commission Act'' creating a commission of the same name with full control over the operation of the airport. In 1940, during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...

placed the airport under the direction of the

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

and 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 ...

where it remained until 1997. Also in 1940,

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 ...

(TCA) was operating daily round trip transcontinental service across Canada via the airport with a routing of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

–

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...

– North Bay –

Kapuskasing Kapuskasing is a town on the Kapuskasing River in the Cochrane District of Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Hearst. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917, when the name was changed so as not to conflict with another rail ...

– Wagaming –

– Regina –

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to t ...

–

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. ...

flown with

Lockheed Model 10 Electra The Lockheed Model 10 Electra is an American twin-engined, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2. The type gained considerable fame as one was f ...

twin prop aircraft with connecting service to and from

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 ...

being offered via North Bay.

Post-war

In 1962, Stevenson Field was officially renamed Winnipeg International Airport, followed in 1997 by the airport's transfer to the control of the Winnipeg Airports Authority. The airport was briefly served by

Scandinavian Airlines Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmar ...

(SAS) during the mid-1950s on the world's first regular

Polar route A polar route is an aircraft route across the uninhabited polar ice cap regions. The term "polar route" was originally applied to great circle navigation routes between Europe and the west coast of North America in the 1950s. The Arctic Early yea ...

, which linked

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

with

Douglas DC-6B The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

propliner flights via Søndre Strømfjord,

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

and Winnipeg. By 1962,

(TCA, now

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 ...

) was operating weekly nonstop service between Winnipeg and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

with

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in July ...

jetliners. In 1963,

was serving the airport with

Lockheed L-188 Electra The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flown in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner built in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes that led to expensiv ...

turboprops operated on multi-stop routings of Winnipeg -

Grand Forks, ND Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin cit ...

- Fargo, ND - Minneapolis/St. Paul -

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Idlewild Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...

(now

JFK Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...

) and also

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facer ...

- St. Petersburg, FL -

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

Chicago O'Hare Airport 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 ...

- Minneapolis/St. Paul - Fargo, ND - Grand Forks, ND - Winnipeg. By 1970, Air Canada was operating twice weekly nonstop service to

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, with both flights continuing on to London Heathrow, a weekly nonstop flight to London Heathrow, a twice weekly nonstop to Copenhagen with both flights continuing on to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

and a weekly nonstop to Frankfurt with this flight continuing on to Zurich with all of these services being operated with Douglas DC-8 jets as part of Air Canada's "Western Arrow" international flights at the time. Also in 1970, CP Air was operating direct, no change of plane

Boeing 737-200 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 u ...

service to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

via stops in

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 ...

and

. The original main terminal building was built in 1964, and was designed by the architectural firm of Green Blankstein Russell and Associates (subsequently GBR Associates and Stantec Limited). It was expanded and renovated in 1984 by the architectural firm of IKOY, and a hotel was built across from the terminal in 1998. The original main terminal building was closed on Sunday October 30, 2011 and has since been demolished. Two airlines operating jet aircraft in passenger service were previously based at the airport: Transair (Canada) and

Greyhound Air Greyhound Air was a short-lived Canadian discount airline. Launched by Greyhound Canada, the airline ceased 14 months later in September 1997, when Laidlaw acquired the Canadian bus line. Proposal Greyhound USA had suffered the incursion of the ...

. During the mid-1970s, Transair was operating

and

Fokker F28 Fellowship The Fokker F28 Fellowship is a twin-engined, short-range jet airliner designed and built by Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. Following the Fokker F27 Friendship, an early and commercially successful turboprop-powered regional airliner, Fokk ...

jets in addition to

NAMC YS-11 The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (NAMC), a Japanese consortium. It was the only post-war airliner to be wholly designed and manufactured in Japan until the development of ...

and

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restart ...

turboprops on scheduled flights in Manitoba and Ontario provinces as well as the Northwest Territories and the Yukon with service as far west as

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's Downtown Whitehorse, downtown ...

and as far east as

from its Winnipeg hub in addition to operating charter services from the airport with

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 2 ...

jetliners with charter flights to Europe, the Caribbean and Mexico as well as to Florida, Hawaii and other destinations in the U.S. The August 1, 1996 Greyhound Air timetable lists nonstop domestic flights operated with

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

jetliners from the airport to Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, Kelowna, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver with Winnipeg serving as the connecting hub for the airline. According to the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the USA, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, flight st ...

(OAG), six airlines were serving the airport with scheduled passenger flights in the spring of 1975:

operating

Lockheed L-1011 TriStar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter comm ...

wide body jetliners as well as

and

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 ...

jets, CP Air flying

Boeing 727-100 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter f ...

and

jets, the original

Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The c ...

with

jets, Midwest Airlines operating

commuter turboprops,

flying

and

jets as well as

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long- range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 19 ...

wide body jetliners and locally based Transair (Canada) with

and

jets as well as

turboprops. In 1976, the OAG listed direct, no change of plane 737 jet service from both Denver and Las Vegas operated by Frontier with twice daily service from Denver and ten flights a week from Las Vegas, daily nonstop service from New York

operated by Air Canada with DC-9-30 jets, daily nonstop 727-200 jet service from Chicago O'Hare Airport flown by Northwest, daily direct wide body DC-10 jet service operated by Northwest from Fort Lauderdale via stops at Chicago O'Hare and Minneapolis/St. Paul, twice daily direct 737 jet service from San Francisco flown by CP Air and a combined total of eight daily nonstop flights from Toronto flown by Air Canada and CP Air including twice daily wide body L-1011 jetliner service operated by Air Canada. Two years later in 1978, CP Air was operating weekly nonstop

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, ...

jumbo jet service to

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

as well as weekly nonstop Super Douglas DC-8-63 jet service to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

and by 1981 was operating

wide body jetliner service from the airport.http://www.departedflights.com , April 1, 1981 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Winnipeg flight schedules Other airlines serving Winnipeg in the spring of 1981 besides Air Canada, CP Air, Frontier and Northwest included Nordair and Pacific Western Airlines both operating

jets (with the latter air carrier having taken over Transair), locally based Perimeter Aviation with

Beechcraft Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacturer of general avi ...

and

Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in San ...

commuter turboprops and Republic Airlines (1979-1986) flying

jets. Cross-border service from the U.S. in 1981 included an Air Canada nonstop flight from

, Frontier nonstop service from

Bismarck, ND Bismarck () is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the state's second-most populous city, after Fargo. The city's population was 73,622 in the 2020 census, while its metropolitan popu ...

and

Minot, ND Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 2 ...

with these flights originating in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Northwest nonstop service from Chicago O'Hare Airport,

and Minneapolis/St. Paul (with the latter route featuring wide body

DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 19 ...

service with this flight originating in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...

) and Republic nonstop service from

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

with this flight originating in Minneapolis/St. Paul. In 1983, Air Canada was flying weekly nonstop service to London

with

series 500 long range wide body jetliners. By 1985, Air Canada was operating direct one stop

service to

via Calgary as well as direct one stop Boeing 727-200 service to

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...

via Toronto and was also continuing to operate nonstop DC-9-30 flights to Chicago O'Hare Airport. Also in 1985, Pacific Western was operating Boeing 767-200 wide body jetliners into the airport nonstop from Regina and Saskatoon as well as direct from Calgary and Vancouver in addition to operating Boeing 737-200 service while Northwest Territorial Airways (NWT Air) was operating

turboprops configured for passenger/freight

combi aircraft Combi aircraft in commercial aviation are aircraft that can be used to carry either passengers as an airliner, or cargo as a freighter, and may have a partition in the aircraft cabin to allow both uses at the same time in a mixed passenger/fre ...

operations on nonstop flights between the airport and

Rankin Inlet Rankin Inlet ( iu, Kangiqliniq; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑲᖏᕿᓂᖅ or ''Kangirliniq'', ᑲᖏᖅᖠᓂᖅ, or ''Kangir&iniq'' meaning ''deep bay/inlet'') is an Inuit hamlet on Kudlulik Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest hamlet and ...

and

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

. In early 2000,

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 wel ...

was flying nonstop to Toronto with direct, no change of plane service to Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax and St. John's operated with

jets. During the summer of 2003,

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. ...

, a start up air carrier which flew

Fokker 100 The Fokker 100 is a regional jet produced by Fokker in the Netherlands. The Fokker 100 is based on the Fokker F28 with a fuselage stretched by to seat up to 109 passengers, up from 85. It is powered by two newer Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans, ...

and

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 ...

jets, was operating daily nonstop service to Toronto. On December 10, 2006, the

Lawrence Cannon Lawrence Cannon, (born December 6, 1947) is a Canadian politician from Quebec and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant. In early 2006, he was made the Minister of Transport. On October 30, 2008, he relinquished oversight of ...

, announced Winnipeg International Airport was to be renamed Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport in honour of the influential businessman and pioneer of Canadian commercial aviation from Winnipeg.

Facilities

Main Terminal

Winnipeg's main airport terminal was designed by Argentine architect Cesar Pelli and Stantec. The terminal's design was inspired by the City of Winnipeg's distinctive landscape and the province of Manitoba's vast

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

s and sky. It was the first airport terminal in Canada to be

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

-certified for its environmentally friendly concept, design, construction and operation. The terminal was constructed in two phases, with construction beginning in 2007 and ending on October 30, 2011, when it was officially opened to the public. Prior to the opening of the current main terminal building, a multi-level access road and four-level, 1,559 stall

parkade A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

were both opened in November 2006. All airlines serving Winnipeg International Airport operate at the main terminal building, with the exception of Perimeter Aviation.

operates a Maple Leaf Lounge located in the domestic/international departures area, and a "pay-in" lounge, operated by Plaza Premium Lounge (temporarily closed due to COVID-19), is also located in the domestic/international departures area. Free

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...

is provided by the Winnipeg Airports Authority throughout the entire main terminal building.

Perimeter Terminal

Perimeter Aviation is a regional airline that operates its own small, exclusive terminal building at Winnipeg International Airport to facilitate its passenger, cargo and charter services. Perimeter Aviation does not use the main terminal building due to its varied operations to small remote communities throughout Northern Manitoba and

using small propeller aircraft, with which regular airport terminal services (

jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major servi ...

, etc.) are unnecessary and can actually be a hindrance to day-to-day operations. The Perimeter Aviation terminal building is located south of the main terminal building.

Other facilities

A large

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operat ...

mail processing facility was opened at the airport site on June 4, 2010. The facility is located east of the main terminal building, just north of Wellington Avenue. It is responsible for processing all mail and parcels for Manitoba, and some parts of Ontario and Northern Canada. Three hotels are located on site, adjacent to the main airport terminal.

CentrePort Canada

Richardson International Airport is included in a new dry port created by provincial legislation—''CentrePort Canada Act'', C.C.S.M. c. C44—that will offer investment opportunities for distribution centres, warehousing and manufacturing. CentrePort Canada will allow companies to take advantage of the cargo capabilities of Richardson International Airport, as well as serviced land, a mid-continent location and highway and rail transport. On April 14, 2009, Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

with Premier

Gary Doer Gary Albert Doer (born 31 March 1948) is a former Canadian politician and diplomat from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He served as Canada's ambassador to the United States from 19 October 2009, to 3 March 2016. Doer previously served as the 20th p ...

announced at James Richardson that both the Federal and Provincial governments will contribute towards a divided four-lane expressway called CentrePort Canada Way. It is now complete, and links Inkster Boulevard to the Perimeter Highway on the north side of the CP Rail Glenboro subdivision parallel to Saskatchewan Avenue to attract new transportation logistics associated development to the city area west and Rosser Municipality northwest of the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Annual traffic

Ground transportation

Car

Winnipeg International Airport is located at 2000 Wellington Avenue in the City of Winnipeg. Several short and long term

s are located on site, as well as a curb-side valet parking service.

Bus

Winnipeg Transit operates two bus routes that service the airport. A charging port has been added in October 2014 for Winnipeg transit's electric bus program. The

Winnipeg Bus Terminal The Winnipeg Bus Terminal was an intercity bus station, located beside the Winnipeg International Airport. History Union Bus Depot The Union Bus Depot was constructed in the 1930s, opened on December 12, 1936, and operated out of 264 Har ...

is a passenger and cargo bus terminal for intercity bus lines. Since Greyhound's exit from Western Canada, very few intercity bus routes, if any, have been serving the terminal. It is located beside the main terminal building. The Brandon Air Shuttle provides shuttle transportation between Winnipeg International Airport and Manitoba's second largest city, Brandon.

References

Sources

* ''Canada's Airports: Reinvention & Success''. Ottawa-Macdonald-Cartier: Insight Media commissioned by the Canadian Airports Council (CAC), 2005.

External links

Winnipeg International Airport
{{authority control Airports established in 1928 Buildings and structures in Winnipeg Canadian airports with United States border preclearance Certified airports in Manitoba Transport in Winnipeg WAAS reference stations 1928 establishments in Manitoba National Airports System James Richardson & Sons

History

Post-war

Facilities

Main Terminal

Perimeter Terminal

Other facilities

CentrePort Canada

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Annual traffic

Ground transportation

Car

Bus

See also

References

Sources

External links