Airport type Public 06/24 5,000 Code YYY Province Québec | Operator Régie Intermunicipale Elevation AMSL 172 ft / 52 m 5,000 1,524 Elevation 52 m Phone +1 418-775-3347 | |
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Similar Air Canada, Discount Location d'autos et, Mont‑Joli, Taxi de Coopérati de Mont‑J, Orléans Express ‑ Mont‑Joli | ||
Mont-Joli Airport (IATA: YYY, ICAO: CYYY) is located 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km; 1.7 mi) north northwest of Mont-Joli, Quebec, Canada. It is the only airport with scheduled service in Bas-Saint-Laurent region.
History
In the summer of 1940 the Royal Canadian Air Force selected a flat area of farmland between Mont-Joli Station (on the Montreal-Halifax Canadian National Railway mainline) and the Saint Lawrence River for a military airfield. Construction on the aerodrome began in October 1941 and was completed by April 1942 at a cost of $200,000. Three paved runways and 50 buildings were constructed for what became known as RCAF Station Mont-Joli.
Inaugurated on April 15, 1942, RCAF Station Mont-Joli was used as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan for a bombing and gunnery school until the end of World War II. Less well-known was RCAF Station Mont-Joli's critical role during the Battle of the St. Lawrence when RCAF Eastern Air Command used it as a coastal patrol base; during 1942-1944, dozens of Canadian cargo and warships were sunk by German U-boats in an effort to close the critical Saint Lawrence Seaway off to shipping. Aircraft staging out of Mont-Joli were crucial to warding off U-boats and ensuring the safety of shipping out to the eastern tip of the Gaspé Peninsula at Cap-Gaspé.
RCAF Station Mont-Joli was decommissioned by the air force in 1945 and became the property of the Department of Transport (now Transport Canada) on December 15, 1945 for use as a civilian airport, and its ownership was transferred in 1995 to the "Régie intermunicipale de l’aéroport régional de Mont-Joli". It is the busiest airport in eastern Quebec, though still very far from the Québec/Jean Lesage International Airport in Quebec City and Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal.
In 2007 a second runway (15/33) was opened and the 06/24 runway decreased in length from 6,000 ft (1,829 m) to 5,000 ft (1,524 m).