Transform Your Flight Sim Experience
with In-Depth Tracking & Analysis
Track every flight, analyse your performance,
and master your flying skills with My FS Flights
Get 10 flights free every month!
Tracked and analysed flights over miles
Wawa Airport (CYXZ) is a small municipal aerodrome in northern Ontario, sitting just south southwest of the town of Wawa on the shore of Lake Superior's hinterland. Built from a former gravel mine airstrip and opened to scheduled traffic in the mid-1970s, it today handles general aviation, air ambulance and charter movements rather than the scheduled airline service it once enjoyed. For a VFR pilot it offers a single hard-surfaced runway, an uncontrolled UNICOM environment, and a straightforward approach along Highway 17.
Wawa Airport is a registered public aerodrome serving the town of Wawa in northern Ontario, operated by the Corporation of the Municipality of Wawa. It began life as a gravel airstrip built for the nearby Algoma Ore mine and was developed into a licensed civil airport in the 1970s. Today it supports general aviation, charter flights and air ambulance (MEDEVAC) operations, making it a useful stop for pilots flying through the Lake Superior region of Ontario.
The airport lies about 1.7 nautical miles south southwest of the town of Wawa, Ontario, close to Highway 17N. It is an uncontrolled aerodrome, with Toronto Centre providing area control on 124.075 MHz and a London Radio remote communications outlet available on 126.7 MHz for flight information services.
Wawa Airport has a single hard-surfaced, lit runway pair, 03/21. The published data shows an available length of 4,351 feet for runway 03 and 3,719 feet for runway 21; there is no ILS at the field. Field elevation is 935 feet.
Traffic at Wawa operates on the Aerodrome Traffic Frequency/UNICOM 122.8 MHz, which also serves as the local advisory frequency. Toronto Centre can be reached on 124.075 MHz, and a London Radio remote communications outlet is available on 126.7 MHz for enroute flight information. There is no instrument landing system at the airport.
The airport sits close to Highway 17N, roughly 1.7 nautical miles south southwest of the town of Wawa, which serves as a useful visual reference when approaching from the north or east.
The airport originated as a gravel airstrip built for the Algoma Ore mine, and in 1968 the Wawa Chamber of Commerce proposed converting it into a civil airport. Funding difficulties followed, with the Ontario Government covering only half the estimated cost and the Michipicoten Township Council left to raise the remainder locally. The Canada Department of Transport gave tentative licensing approval for 3,300 feet of the available 4,600-foot strip on May 26, 1969, setting aside $1 million for development after nearby rocks and trees were judged to make part of the strip unsafe. On October 1, 1974, the township council resolved to extend the runway from the licensed 3,300 feet to a minimum of 4,000 feet. Commercial flights began on July 17, 1975, and the airport was officially opened on August 11 of that year by Premier Bill Davis, with a single de Havilland Twin Otter operated by Air-Dale and NorOntair providing daily service to Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and other nearby communities. A resurfacing project closed the airport for a year from the summer of 1977, reopening on July 20, 1978, at a final cost of $100,000 against an original estimate of $20,000. A passenger terminal opened in September 1980. The closure of NorOntair in January 1996 threatened the airport's finances, but Bearskin Airlines' arrival with regular passenger service filled the gap. The runway was closed again for repairs between September and October 1997. Air Georgian took over scheduled service in June 1999 but ended it in February 2001, marking the last regular passenger service through the airport. A private helicopter crashed shortly after takeoff on July 18, 1980, injuring one man, and on November 27, 2023 a Thunder Airlines Mitsubishi MU-2 medical transport flight crashed on landing, destroying the aircraft and closing the runway for more than two days, though without injuries.
Wawa Airport continues to serve chartered passenger flights, general aviation and air ambulance (MEDEVAC) operations rather than scheduled airline service. The municipal facility offers avgas, an internet connection and a pilots' lounge with computer access for visiting crews.
