Thunder Bay International Airport
Thunder Bay International Airport
Thunder Bay Airport (IATA: YQT, ICAO: CYQT) is in the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. With 108,130 aircraft movements in 2012, it was the fourth busiest airport in Ontario and the 16th busiest airport in Canada. During the same year, more than 761,000 passengers went through the airport. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA officers at this airport can handle aircraft with up to 40 passengers. The reference of "International" in the name of the Thunder Bay International Airport Authority Inc. (TBIAAI) is used for business purposes only. The TBIAAI has not sought to receive official Canadian designation as "International", in accordance with all applicable domestic and international requirements as defined by ICAO Annex 9.
Location
48.372°N, 89.324°O · 199 m s. n. m. (653 ft)
General data
Runways · 2
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 6
Tower
Ground
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Area control (center)
Flight information
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
It was built as the Fort William Municipal Airport in 1938, partly as a means of relieving unemployment.
During World War II, the Thunder Bay (then Fort William) airport was home to No. 2 Elementary Flying Training School, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The airport was also used as a base for test flights of fighter aircraft being built at the nearby Canadian Car and Foundry factory.
Before the two cities of Fort William and Port Arthur merged, it was called the Canadian Lakehead Airport.
The airport went under major renovations in 1994 with the construction of a new airport terminal building, including two jetways, a large food court, a gift shop and an arcade.
The airport was handed over from the government in 1997 to the Thunder Bay International Airports Authority, a non-profit organization. The airport handled over 600,000 passengers in 2006, for the first time since 2001.
The airport underwent a runway rehabilitation and upgrade in 2022. This was "the largest construction project undertaken in the history of the Airport Authority".
Historical aerodrome information
In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed as RCAF & D of T Aerodrome - Fort William, Ontario at 48°22′N 89°19′W with a variation of 01 degrees east and elevation of 645 ft (197 m). Three runways were listed as follows:
Historical airline jet service
A number of airlines served the airport with scheduled passenger jet service in the past from the late 1960s to the early 2000s. These air carriers along with the respective jetliner types they operated from the airfield are as follows:
Air Canada (mainline service): Airbus A319, Boeing 727-200, McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30
Air Ontario: Fokker F28
Canadian Airlines International: Boeing 737-200
Canadian Regional Airlines: Fokker F28
CanJet: Boeing 737-200
Jetsgo: Fokker 100, McDonnell Douglas MD-80
Nordair: Boeing 737-200
North Central Airlines: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30
Pacific Western Airlines: Boeing 737-200
Republic Airlines: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30
Transair: Boeing 737-200, Fokker F28
Vistajet: Boeing 737-200
According to various Official Airline Guide (OAG) editions as well as airline timetables, the majority of jet service operated by Canadian-based air carriers was nonstop or direct to Toronto and Winnipeg. U.S.-based North Central Airlines operated nonstop flights to Duluth with continuing no change of plane jet service to Chicago–O'Hare while successor Republic Airlines also flew nonstop to Duluth with continuing no change of plane jet service to Minneapolis/St. Paul and then on to Denver.
During the mid-1980s, three airlines were competing with nonstop service operated with mainline jet aircraft between Thunder Bay and Toronto: Air Canada with Boeing 727-200 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 aircraft, Nordair with Boeing 737-200 aircraft and Pacific Western Airlines with Boeing 737-200 aircraft.
United Express served Chicago O'Hare International Airport from Thunder Bay from February 2013 to April 2014 using the Bombardier CRJ-200. This was the most recent flight offered from Thunder Bay to the United States.
Airlines operating here · 12
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Thunder Bay International Airport (YQT). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YQT
MLA
“Thunder Bay International Airport (YQT).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YQT. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Thunder Bay International Airport (YQT).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YQT.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Thunder Bay International Airport (YQT). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YQT (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_yqt,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Thunder Bay International Airport (YQT)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YQT},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YQT}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YQT |title=Thunder Bay International Airport (YQT) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}