Airport type Private Location Lupin Mine Elevation AMSL 1,608 ft / 490 m Code YWO | Operator Echo Bay Mines Limited Time zone MST (UTC−07:00) 01T/19T 6,400 Elevation 490 m | |
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Address Kitikmeot, Unorganized, NU, Canada | ||
Lupin Airport (IATA: YWO, ICAO: CYWO) was an airport located at Lupin Mine, Nunavut, Canada that was operated by Echo Bay Mines Limited. The airport closed sometime after the mine closed in 2005, but the runway is still present on the property.
History
In the 1950s and 60s this area was known as Contwoyto Lake. Nearby (at location 65 degrees 29' 12.61"N, 110 degrees 21'1.33"W) is an island where there was a small (four person) camp operated by Pacific Western Airlines of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (since merged with Canadian Pacific Airlines, subsequently bought by Air Canada). Operating expenses for the facility were paid for by the Canadian Federal Government. The island was unofficially known as Alcatraz Island and the smaller one West of it was called Wolf Island.
During the 60s there was a Quonset hut for living quarters and a small shed which housed a diesel generator, a backup generator, fuel, and a small tractor. There was no official landing strip, just a dirt strip for emergencies. Planes landed on the lake using floats in the summer and skis in winter. There was a very short emergency strip on land, but it was really too short for safety. The main function of the station was to operate a radio beacon (sending WO in Morse Code for radio-location purposes) and a secondary but very important function was to radio weather observations hourly to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.