Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport (IATA Airport Code: YYJ) 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 airlines and flights.

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

Contents

1 History 2 Runways 3 Airlines 4 Flight Training 5 Transportation to the airport 6 External Links

History

The airport started in 1914 as a grass strip, and was used by the Allied forces in World War 1 as a training base. The airport is located beside Patricia Bay , which due the prevalence of flying boats at the time, made the airport an excellent location. By the 1930s it was owned privately by British Columbia Airways Ltd . Due to a need for a large military airfield on Southern Vancouver Island, the Department of Transport took over the airport in 1948. It was then called Victoria (Patricia 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 the Royal Canadian Navy and their Sea King helicopters who moved the Victoria 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 control of the airport to the Victoria Airport Authority.

Runways

Victoria International has 3 runways, the main being 09-27, with secondary runways at 13-31 and 02-20.

Airlines

Nonstop destinations in parentheses:

• Air Canada (Toronto)
• Air Canada Jazz (Calgary, Vancouver)
• Airspeed Aviation
• Hawkair
• HeliJet International (Vancouver)
• Horizon Air (Seattle)
• Pacific Coastal Airlines
• WestJet (Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna)

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.

External Links

• Victoria International Airport
• A-Z World Airports on YYJ
• History of airport as a Military station
• 443 Squadron History