Victoria International Airport

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{| class="infobox bordered" style="width: 220px; font-size: 95%;" |- ! colspan="4" style="text-align: center; background-color: #4682B4; color: white;" |Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is 22 kilometres north of the city, quite close the town of Sidney on the Saanich Peninsula. The airport is run by the Victoria Airport Authority. Due to the proximity of Vancouver International Airport, Victoria hosts very few scheduled airlines.

Like most airports that are run by local authorities in Canada, Victoria International Airport charges an Airport Improvement Fee for each outgoing passenger. As of 2004, this fee was set at $5.

In 2005, YYJ served 1,318,395 passengers and had aircraft movements of 150,634. It was British Columbia's second busiest airport in terms of passengers, and fourth in terms of aircraft movements. Nationaly, YYJ was the 9th busiest airport in Canada in terms of passengers, and 7th busiest airport in terms of aircraft movements.

Contents

1 History
2 Airlines
3 Flight Training
4 Transportation to the airport
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

History

The airport started in 1939 as a grass strip, and was used by several air forces in World War II as the largest operational air base in Canada. The airport is located beside Patricia Bay, which due the prevalence of flying boats at the time, made the airport an excellent location. The Department of Transport took over the airport in 1948. It was then called Victoria (Patricia Bay) Airport, and many locals still refer to it as the "Pat Bay Airport." Trans-Canada Airlines (later Air Canada) began regular service in 1943.

The last of the Royal Canadian Air Force forces left the airport in 1952, but 443 Helicopter Squadron of Canadian Forces Air Command began operating CH-124 Sea King ship-borne anti-submarine helicopters from Victoria International Airport (which the military refers to as Patricia Bay) in the late 1980s.

In 1959, the airport was renamed to its present name of the Victoria International Airport.

In 1997, as a broad scale restructing of airports across Canada, Transport Canada (formerly the Deparment of Transport), gave operational control of the airport to the Victoria Airport Authority.

In May 2005, the federal government, who own the land, announced a reduction in the rent payed by the airport authority. This will save $0.6 million Canadian each year and $12 million CAD over the life of the lease, which is 50 years.

Airlines

Air Canada (Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver)
* Air Canada Jazz (Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver)
Airspeed Aviation (Abbotsford)
Alaska Airlines
* Horizon Air (Seattle/Tacoma)
Craig Air (Tofino/Ucluelet)
Delta Air Lines
*Delta Connection operated by SkyWest (Salt Lake City) - Seasonal Service Operates June 8, 2006 to September 2, 2006
Harmony Airways (Honolulu (seasonal))
Pacific Coastal Airlines (Vancouver)
Regional 1 (Kamloops, Kelowna, Red Deer)
Skyservice (Cancun, Las Vegas, Zihuatanejo)
WestJet (Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, Regina, Saskatoon, Toronto, Winnipeg)

Flight Training

There are several organizations that offer flight training at the airport

Victoria Flying Club
Juan Air
Parallel Aviation

Transportation to the airport

Victoria International Airport is served by BC Transit, with the number 70 bus making some stops. There is also a direct bus service run by a local business, as well as taxi service.

References

Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 8 June 2006 to 0901Z 3 August 2006.

External links

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