Background

An airfield in the West End, known as Chebucto Field, was built as the Halifax Civic Airport by the City of Halifax in 1931 on the former site of Blueball Farm. It served as the city's main airport until 1941, when it was closed and leased to the federal government to serve as an army camp in World War II. Today Saunders Park, named after the first Halifax airport manager and Aero Club manager Donald Saunders, and some parts of the residential area of Westmount Subdivision, mark the site. RCAF Station Shearwater subsequently functioned as Halifax's primary airport until the current airport was opened. In October 1945, the City of Halifax asked the federal Department of Transport for help choosing a site for a new civil airport.

A key factor was to find a site near Halifax with a minimal number of days per year when fog would affect airport operation. Lucasville was favoured, but after a year of study it was found to have similar average visibility to the frequently foggy airport at Shearwater. A site near Kelly Lake was then scrutinized based on a recommendation by Trans-Canada Air Lines. After two years of monitoring, the site was officially approved in 1954 for construction of a modern, C$5 million airport. The land was purchased by the City of Halifax on 5 April 1955, while the Department of Transport was tasked with building the airport.

Construction and early years

Construction of the new airport began in November 1955. The runways were built by Diamond Construction of Halifax. The modernist terminal building was designed by Gilleland and Strutt, an architecture firm which previously designed a similar-looking terminal at Ottawa.

The new airport was substantially completed in June 1960, and a temporary licence for daytime visual flight rules (VFR) operations was issued that month. An opening gala was held on Dominion Day of 1960, the same day a licence permitting full operations was issued. At 4:50 am on 1 August 1960 the first airplane landed there, a Vickers Viscount running the Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 400 between Montreal and Newfoundland. It was piloted by Halifax native W.E. Barnes. The first overseas flight arrived an hour later, travelling from London en route to Montreal. The airport was formally inaugurated on 10 September 1960, by the Minister of Transport, George Hees. The cost of construction was about $18 million.

Passenger numbers grew steadily during the first few decades of operation. The passenger terminal was substantially renovated in 1966. A 5,000-square-metre (54,000 sq ft) passenger terminal extension opened in July 1976, which saw the installation of the airport's first three air bridges. New temporary passenger walkways were constructed in 1988 to serve regional carriers. By 1990, approximately 2,500,000 passengers passed through the airport annually, up from about 180,000 when it first opened. A 400-square-metre (4,300 sq ft) southern expansion was opened in December 1994 by Minister of Transport Doug Young, while the check-in area was expanded in 1998.

Owing to the National Airports Policy, announced in 1994, the Halifax International Airport Authority (HIAA) was founded in November 1995. Management of the airport was officially passed from Transport Canada to HIAA on 1 February 2000.

Operation Yellow Ribbon

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001 the airport took part in Operation Yellow Ribbon, commenced to accept United States civilian flights after the Federal Aviation Administration closed down U.S. airspace. Halifax airport took in 47 flights—more flights than any other Canadian airport involved in the operation—carrying about 7,300 passengers—more passengers than any other Canadian airport involved in the operation other than Vancouver, which registered 8,500. Much of this was because flights that were coming from Europe were told to avoid the major airports in Central Canada, like Toronto Pearson, Montréal-Dorval, and Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport.

Shortly after the attacks, the airport was advised that as many as 40 to 50 planes would divert to Halifax. In response, runway 15/33 (now 14/32) was shut down to accommodate the parked aircraft. The first diverted aircraft, a United Airlines Boeing 767, arrived at 11:35 am. The number of arriving passengers greatly outstripped the capacity of the airport, which faced processing 7,000–8,000 people with an arrivals facility designed to handle 900 per hour. The Halifax municipal government was tasked with providing emergency shelter, food, transportation and care to the stranded travellers, who were housed in city sports complexes and schools, churches, universities, military bases, as well as the homes of private citizens. A memorial ceremony was held in the airport terminal on 14 September 2001.

To honour the people of Gander and Halifax for their support during the operation, Lufthansa named a new Airbus A340-300 Gander-Halifax on 16 May 2002. That airplane is listed with the registration D-AIFC, and is the first aircraft of the whole fleet with a city name outside of Germany.