Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Kuujjuaq Airport is a remote, mandatory frequency airport serving the Nunavik community of Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec, and the hub for Air Inuit's regional network across the eastern Arctic. Built on the former Fort Chimo wartime site, it offers a long paved runway and a gravel crosswind runway, making it a notable stop for pilots operating in this high-latitude, sparsely served part of Canada.
Kuujjuaq Airport lies just southwest of the town of Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec and serves as the principal air link for the Nunavik region. It is operated as a public airport and functions as a hub for Air Inuit, connecting numerous small Nunavik communities as well as larger centres such as Montreal and Quebec City. For a simulator pilot, its combination of a substantial hard-surfaced runway, a gravel crosswind strip, remote Arctic surroundings and a mandatory frequency operating environment make it a distinctive and worthwhile Arctic Canada destination.
The airport sits roughly 1.5 nautical miles southwest of the town of Kuujjuaq, on the shore of the Koksoak River near its estuary. It is a mandatory frequency (MF) airport with an operating flight service station, placing it within a defined mandatory frequency area rather than full controlled airspace. Traffic in the wider area is worked by Montreal Centre, with the airport itself served locally by a flight service station and remote radio outlet.
Kuujjuaq has two physical runways. Runway 07/25 is a hard-surfaced (asphalt) strip of about 5,933 to 5,933 ft (with the reciprocal recorded at 5,914 ft), lit for night operations. Runway 13/31 is a gravel strip of about 4,936 ft on the 13 threshold and 4,915 ft on the 31 threshold, also lit. There is no instrument landing system at the field.
The airport is worked on a mandatory frequency of 122.2 MHz, which also serves as the airport information frequency. Montreal Centre can be reached on 135.1 MHz. A remote communications outlet for Quebec Radio is available on 123.55 MHz for flight service and en-route communications in the area.
As a mandatory frequency airport, pilots are required to establish two-way communication with the flight service station and report their position and intentions before entering the mandatory frequency area, during circuit joining, and before landing or departing. Given the presence of both a paved and a gravel runway, pilots should confirm the runway in use and any relevant surface or wind considerations with the flight service station before joining.
The Koksoak River and its estuary form the principal natural landmark for locating the airport, with the town of Kuujjuaq visible to the northeast of the field on the opposite side of the river system. The historic Fort Chimo trading post site, from which the settlement grew, lies near the original river crossing point that shaped the airport's siting.
The airport site was surveyed on 12 July 1941 by a United States Army Air Forces team under Captain Elliott Roosevelt, flying amphibious aircraft out of Gander, Newfoundland. Code-named Crystal I, the station at Fort Chimo was established on 10 October 1941 by a twelve-man weather and radio communications crew under Isaac Schlossbach, with runway construction beginning the following summer. It formed part of the wartime Crimson East project intended to support trans-Atlantic ferry flights between the Eastern and Central ferry routes, though the site ultimately served mainly for weather reporting and communications rather than as a major transport hub. Fort Chimo was one of three Canadian Arctic Crystal sites, alongside Frobisher Bay (Crystal II, now Iqaluit) and Padloping Island (Crystal III). Canada assumed official control in 1944, and the American presence wound down by 1945, when the facilities passed to the Canadian government. In more recent decades, Nav Canada established an air traffic control radar facility near the airport allowing Montreal-based controllers to monitor transatlantic traffic over northern Quebec, and a major terminal expansion was completed between 2006 and 2008, replacing the original 1972 terminal with a new building that received LEED silver certification.
Kuujjuaq Airport continues to operate as a mandatory frequency airport with an active flight service station, and remains the year-round transportation hub for the Nunavik region. It is a hub for Air Inuit, linking Kuujjuaq with numerous Nunavik communities as well as Montreal and Quebec City, and has also seen service from Canadian North to Iqaluit and Ottawa. The airport is owned by Transport Canada and operated by the Kativik Regional Government as part of the region's remote airports network.
