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 La Macaza () is a municipality and village in the province of Quebec, Canada. The village is located in the Laurentian Mountains, in the Laurentides (region), Laurentian region, in Antoine-Labelle Regional County Municipality. Its population was ...

, north of the village, about north of

Mont-Tremblant Mont-Tremblant () is a List of cities in Canada, 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-Tremb ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada.

History

The airport was completed in 1962 for the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) 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 environmental commands within the unified Can ...

(RCAF) by

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

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 No ...

missiles. After 1968 the station became CFB La Macaza and closed as an active base in 1972 following the removal of the Bomarc missiles. The area that was used for the Bomarc launchers was converted into the La Macaza Institution, a federal penitentiary operated by the

Correctional Service of Canada The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC; ), also known as Correctional Service Canada or Corrections Canada, is the Government of Canada, Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and Rehabilitation (penology), rehabili ...

, in 1978. 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 airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

began seasonal service to its Newark hub. The airport was served during the ski season and summer months by

Porter Airlines Porter Airlines (stylized in Letter case#All lowercase, all lowercase as porter) is a Canadian airline headquartered at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport in Toronto. It is the third largest airline in Canada, behind Air Canada and WestJet. Owned ...

until 2022 and between December and March by

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...

until 2019.

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. Internatio ...

Nav Canada Nav Canada (styled as NAV CANADA) is a privately run, non-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation system (ANS). It was established by statute in accordance with the ''Civil Air Navigation Services Commercializati ...

and is staffed by the

Canada Border Services Agency The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; , ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border guard, border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and Customs, customs services in Canada. ...

(CBSA) on a call-out basis from the

Mirabel Airport Mirabel, Mirabelle or Mirabell may refer to: * Mirabel (name), a female given name Places Austria *Mirabell Palace, in Salzburg Canada *Mirabel, Quebec Mirabel () is a suburb of Montreal, located on the North Shore (Montreal), North Shore in ...

. 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 except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

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.

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 An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...

(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 Former Canadian Forces bases in Canada Airports established in 1962 1962 establishments in Quebec