Mont-Joli Airport
# Mont-Joli Airport

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 the Bas-Saint-Laurent region.

## History

### World War II

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 a training base for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and hosted No. 9 Bombing and Gunnery School from 15 December 1941 until 14 April 1945. RCAF Station Mont-Joli was used by RCAF Eastern Air Command during the Battle of the St. Lawrence as a coastal patrol base; during 1942–1944, Canadian cargo ships and warships were sunk by German U-boats in an effort to close the Saint Lawrence Seaway off to shipping. Aircraft staging out of Mont-Joli were among those used to ward off U-boats and ensure the safety of shipping to the eastern tip of the Gaspé Peninsula at Cap-Gaspé.

**Aerodrome information**

In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed at 48°36′N 68°12′W﻿ / ﻿48.600°N 68.200°W﻿ / 48.600; -68.200 with a Var. 24 degrees W and elevation of 100 feet (30 m). The aerodrome was listed as with three runways as follows:

| Runway name | Length | Width | Surface |
| - | - | - | - |
| 6/24 | 5,000 feet (1,524 m) | 150 feet (46 m) | 4000' paved |
| 16/34 | 4,600 feet (1,402 m) | 150 feet (46 m) | 4000' paved |
| 2/20 | 5,000 feet (1,524 m) | 150 feet (46 m) | 4300' paved |

### Post-war (1945–1995)

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.

### Current (1995–present)

Its ownership was transferred again 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 runway 06/24 decreased in length from 6,000 ft (1,829 m) to 5,000 ft (1,524 m). In 2017, runway 06/24 was once again extended to 6,000 ft (1,829 m), in order to accommodate the B737-800. Sunwing Airlines started flying that aircraft type from Mont-Joli to Punta Cana in December 2017.

Air Canada indefinitely suspended its operations at Mont-Joli Airport in June 2020 due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

## Airlines and destinations

| Airlines | Destinations |
| - | - |
| Air Inuit | Seasonal charter: Montreal–Trudeau, Port-Menier, Quebec City |
| Chrono Aviation | Seasonal charter: Port-Menier |
| PAL Airlines | Bagotville, Moncton, Montreal–Trudeau, Wabush |
| Pascan Aviation | Montréal–Saint-Hubert, Quebec City, Sept-Îles, Wabush |
