Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport, also known as Jean Lesage International Airport ( French: ''Aéroport international Jean-Lesage de Québec'', or ''Aéroport de Québec'') , is the primary airport serving

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Designated as an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

, it is located 17 km (10.5 mi) west of the city, in

L'Ancienne-Lorette L'Ancienne-Lorette () is a city in central Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of and an enclave within Quebec City. It was merged with Quebec City on January 1, 2002, as part of a 2000–2006 municipal reorganization in Quebec, but, after a 2004 r ...

. In 2024, it was the 12th-busiest airport in Canada, with 1,737,803 passengers. More than ten airlines offer 360 weekly flights to destinations across Canada, the

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, the

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and

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Overview

The airport was established in 1939, a year after the closure of the Aérodrome Saint-Louis. First established as a training facility for air observers, the first flight occurred on September 11, 1941. First known as the Aéroport de l' Ancienne Lorette, then the Aéroport de Sainte-Foy, and later the Aéroport de Québec, it was renamed to Aéroport international Jean-Lesage in 1993, in honour of

Jean Lesage Jean Lesage (; June 10, 1912 – December 12, 1980) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 19th premier of Quebec from July 5, 1960, to June 16, 1966. Alongside Georges-Émile Lapalme, René Lévesque and others, he is often v ...

, the former

Premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( (masculine) or eminine is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the Coalition Avenir Québec, sworn in on October 18, 2018, following tha ...

. The airport is managed and operated by Aéroport de Québec inc., a non-profit and non-share corporation. The current terminal building has a capacity of 1.4 million passengers annually. Beginning in 2006, with a budget of $65.8 million, Québec/Jean Lesage International Airport underwent a modernization designed to increase the terminal's capacity and substantially enhance the level of passenger service. The modernization included reconfiguring the terminal on two levels, restructuring the baggage handling area and arrivals area, and reconfiguring and enlargement of the waiting rooms. Fifty-four percent of the financing was provided directly by Aéroport de Québec inc. Completed in June 2008, the new configuration of the airport now enables it to handle 1.4 million passengers a year. Based on the passenger figures for 2009 and 2010, it became clear that the terminal building would reach its design capacity by 2012. Aéroport de Québec inc. is therefore planning further investments of nearly $300 million to expand the terminal building further. Presently the terminal has 17 gates: 12 contact gates and five walk-out aircraft positions. This will increase to 24 gates by 2025. On July 4, 2011, work began on the second phase of the airport expansion, which lasted until 2017. Partially funded through an Airport Improvement Fee, the terminal building doubled in size, at a cost of $224.8 million. The work included expanding the international facilities, constructing runways, taxiways, and de-icing pads, and enhancing customer service facilities. On September 19, 2013, runway 12/30 was renamed to runway 11/29. The airport charges an Airport Improvement Fee (AIF) to each passenger, it is amongst the highest in Canada at $35 per passenger. On 10 March 2016,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

announced the addition of the airport to the list of Canadian airports containing U.S. border preclearance facilities. In 2019, Trudeau and President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

also announced that the airport would obtain border preclearance. However, as of March 2024, preclearance is not yet available. On December 11, 2017, the first phase of YQB2018, the expansion project, was completed with the opening of the new international terminal. The new facility features more dedicated baggage carousels serving international flights, a new customs area, an expanded food court and restaurant area including

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

, Pidz, and Nourc, four new gates (34 to 37), an improved and larger loading area for cars and buses, and a larger capacity baggage area. The last expansion phase, which involved linking the domestic and international terminals, was completed in the summer of 2019. Also added as part of the most recent expansion are 10 holes in the security fence placed at positions determined jointly by the airport authority and a local plane spotting group. These holes are sized to allow photographers to insert telephoto lenses and are specifically reserved for their use. In 2019, the American website ''

Digital Photography Review ''Digital Photography Review'', also known as ''DPReview'', is a website about digital cameras and digital photography, established in November 1998. The website provides comprehensive reviews of digital cameras, lenses and accessories, buying g ...

'' called the airport "the number one spot for aviation photographers".

Facilities

Infrastructure

YQB International Airport receives various long-, mid- and short-haul aircraft. The airport has two runways. Its longest runway northeast-southwesterly direction is 06/24, having a length of . Runway 24 is YQB's main approach pattern equipped with

Area navigation Area navigation (RNAV, usually pronounced as ) is a method of instrument flight rules (IFR) navigation that allows aircraft to fly along a desired flight path, rather than being restricted to routes defined by ground-based navigation beacons. ...

(RNAV),

required navigation performance Required navigation performance (RNP) is a type of performance-based navigation (PBN) that allows an aircraft to fly a specific path between two 3D-defined points in space. Navigation precision Area navigation, Area navigation (RNAV) and RNP s ...

(RNP), and

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 i ...

(NDB) approach. Runway 06 has the same approaches with the addition of an instrument landing system (ILS). There are seven taxiways: Alpha (connecting the main apron with runway 24), Bravo (connecting the main apron with runway 29), Charlie, Delta (parallel to the 06/24), Echo (connecting the main apron with runway 24), Golf (which links Delta to the threshold of runway 06) and Hotel (between Golf and runway 11/29). The airport aprons can accommodate light to large aircraft (12

aerobridge A jet bridge is an enclosed connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane, and in some instances from a port to a boat or ship, allowing passengers to board and disembark without heading outside and being exp ...

and nine remotes) simultaneously and are designed to accommodate wide-body jet airliners as large as the

Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The ''Advanced Series 300'' was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, target ...

. YQB doesn't have a

Visual Docking Guidance System A stand guidance system is a system which gives information to a pilot attempting to park an aircraft at an airport stand, usually via visual methods, leading to the term ''Visual Docking Guidance System'' (VDGS) and also ''A-VDGS'' (the A standing ...

(VDGS) or

Parallax Aircraft Parking Aid A stand guidance system is a system which gives information to a pilot attempting to park an aircraft at an airport stand, usually via visual methods, leading to the term ''Visual Docking Guidance System'' (VDGS) and also ''A-VDGS'' (the A standing ...

(PAPA); all stands are assisted by ground operations using marshaling wands–handheld illuminated beacons. Ramp 3 is where all the flight schools and private airlines are located. Chrono Aviation, Skyjet/

Air Liaison Skyjet MG o/a Air Liaison is a regional airline based in Quebec City, Quebec with its base being the Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport. It operates scheduled flights to 15 domestic destinations from Monday to Friday, and has a morni ...

, Orizon Aviation, CFAQ, Strait Air, and Avjet/TSAS are the main users of this apron.

Runway and aprons

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

* Statistics prior to 2009 are from

. From 2009 on, statistics are from Aéroport de Québec (ADQ). Transport Canada's statistics are consistently higher than those of ADQ.

Top domestic destinations

Top United States destinations

Top international destinations

Access

Public transportation to the airport is provided by

Réseau de transport de la Capitale The Réseau de transport de la Capitale (, RTC), the brand name for the ''Société de transport de Québec'', provides urban public transit services in the Quebec City area. It was founded in 2002, continuing the operations of the former ''Soci� ...

route 76 to

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

Sainte-Foy station Sainte-Foy station is a Via Rail station in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. it is located on Chemin de la Gare in the former city of Sainte-Foy. It is staffed and is wheelchair-accessible. The stations offers limited parking with three accessible s ...

and route 80 to downtown.

Accidents and incidents

* On 9 September 1949,

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986. Headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia, ...

Flight 108 on a flight from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Baie-Comeau Baie-Comeau () is a city in the Côte-Nord region of the province of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, and is the seat of Manicouagan Regional County Municipality. It is near the mouth of the Manicouagan Ri ...

with a stopover in

crash-landed east of Quebec City when a bomb exploded on board shortly after departing from Quebec City Jean Lesage Airport (then known as L'Ancienne-Lorette Airport), killing all 19 passengers and four crew. The incident and trial that followed would be known as the

Albert Guay Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert Computers, Inc., a computer manufacturer in the 1980s * Albert Czech Republic, a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street mar ...

affair. * On 29 March 1979,

Quebecair Flight 255 Quebecair Flight 255 was a scheduled flight from Quebec City to Montreal. On March 29, 1979, the Fairchild F-27, registered CF-QBL, that was operating the flight crashed minutes after takeoff at about 6:45 PM (local time) when an engine exploded ...

, a

Fairchild F-27 The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 are versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined, turboprop, passenger aircraft formerly manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to ...

, crashed after take-off, killing 17 and injuring seven. * On 23 June 2010, a Beechcraft A100 King Air of Aeropro (C-FGIN) crashed north of the airport just after taking off from runway 30 (now runway 29), killing all seven people on board. * On 12 October 2017, a

drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...

collided with a passenger plane for the first time in North America. The drone struck the turboprop passenger plane operated by Skyjet Aviation while it was on approach. The drone was operating above the flight height restriction and within the exclusion zone around airports, violating drone operating regulations.

References

External links

Aéroport de Québec official website (English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport Buildings and structures in Quebec City Transport in Quebec City Certified airports in Capitale-Nationale Military airbases in Capitale-Nationale Airports established in 1941 1941 establishments in Quebec National Airports System