Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Nanaimo Airport (CYCD) is a regional aerodrome on the east coast of Vancouver Island, roughly seven nautical miles south-southeast of the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. Privately owned and operated by the Nanaimo Airport Commission, it combines scheduled airline services with general aviation and charter traffic, and offers an ILS approach to its longer runway. For the VFR pilot it is a useful island staging point with good instrument backup, set among the wooded terrain and waterways of the Cowichan Valley approaches.
Nanaimo Airport, known locally as YCD, sits south of the city it serves on central Vancouver Island and is the Nanaimo Airport Commission's privately owned regional field. The passenger terminal, the Nanaimo-Collishaw Air Terminal, was named in 1999 in honour of Raymond Collishaw, a First World War flying ace born in Nanaimo. The airport handles scheduled jet and turboprop services alongside general aviation movements, making it a recognisable island hub for a visiting sim pilot, with the added interest of an instrument landing system on its main runway.
The field lies about 7 nautical miles south-southeast of Nanaimo, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island, roughly between the Cowichan Valley and the Nanaimo urban area. Approach control in the area is provided as Victoria Terminal, with Nanaimo radio and advisory services layered beneath it. Pilots operating to and from CYCD should expect to coordinate with Victoria Terminal on approach and with the local flight service and advisory frequencies described below for traffic in the circuit.
Nanaimo Airport has a single hard-surfaced, lit runway aligned 16/34. The southeasterly runway 16 is published at 6,382 feet and is equipped with an ILS and runway lighting, while the reciprocal runway 34 is published at 5,593 feet and is also lit. Field elevation is 82 feet.
Nanaimo Airport is served by Victoria Terminal approach control on 133.95 MHz. Aerodrome traffic frequency (ATF) is 122.1 MHz, which is also used by Nanaimo flight service and as the remote communications outlet frequency for Pacific Radio. A dedicated Nanaimo ATIS broadcasts on 128.425 MHz, and a further remote communications outlet for Pacific Radio operates on 126.7 MHz. Runway 16 is equipped with an instrument landing system, and is the only runway direction at Nanaimo currently available for IFR approaches, since the approach to runway 34 requires a dogleg routing that follows Ladysmith Harbour.
Traffic at Nanaimo should monitor the 122.1 MHz aerodrome traffic frequency, which doubles as the flight service frequency, for circuit and advisory calls. Runway 16 is favoured for instrument approaches because of its ILS, while runway 34 approaches follow a dogleg track along Ladysmith Harbour rather than a straight-in profile, a point worth noting when planning a VFR arrival from the north.
The dogleg approach to runway 34 follows the shoreline of Ladysmith Harbour, making the harbour itself a useful visual lead-in feature for pilots arriving from the north. The airport lies south-southeast of the city of Nanaimo on the island's east coast, with the built-up area of Nanaimo and the waters of the Strait of Georgia providing broad orientation references for a VFR transit.
The site began life as the airport at Cassidy, south of Nanaimo, and was the original base of Cassidair Services, founded in 1956, which would later grow into Pacific Coastal Airlines. In 1999 the terminal was renamed in honour of Raymond Collishaw, a Nanaimo-born First World War flying ace, becoming the Nanaimo-Collishaw Air Terminal. A significant runway expansion was completed in 2010, lengthening the main runway by nearly 1,600 feet to accommodate larger aircraft and adding a third taxiway giving direct access to the runway 16 threshold. This was followed by the installation of an advanced instrument landing system and associated lighting on runway 16, which in turn attracted increased commercial traffic from carriers including WestJet Encore and Air Canada Rouge alongside the long-established Jazz Aviation services. A major terminal expansion between 2018 and 2020 substantially increased passenger screening capacity and apron size.
Nanaimo Airport remains privately owned and operated by the Nanaimo Airport Commission and continues to handle scheduled services from Air Canada Express, Pacific Coastal Airlines, WestJet and WestJet Encore to destinations including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna and, seasonally, Toronto. The field also supports general aviation and flying club activity, and is a designated airport of entry with customs facilities available. Runway 16 remains the only direction currently cleared for instrument approaches, owing to the dogleg routing required for runway 34.
