Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Calgary International Airport (CYYC) is the principal gateway to southern Alberta, lying some 17 kilometres northeast of downtown Calgary and ranking as the busiest airport in the province and fourth-busiest in Canada. Home to WestJet's global hub and a focus city for Air Canada, it offers a simulator pilot four long hard-surfaced runways, full radar and tower control, and a rich history stretching back to the airport's opening as McCall Field in 1938.
Calgary International Airport, branded YYC Calgary Airport, is a major international hub serving the city of Calgary and the wider province of Alberta. It is operated by the Calgary Airport Authority under lease from Transport Canada and serves as the headquarters and primary hub for WestJet, a focus city for Air Canada and Air North, and an operating base for Central Mountain Air and Flair Airlines. For a virtual pilot it offers the full experience of a large, busy Canadian international airport, with multiple long runways, complex ATC sectorisation, and proximity to the Rocky Mountains and Banff National Park to the west, all of which make it an interesting and demanding destination to fly into.
The airport sits approximately 17 kilometres northeast of downtown Calgary, covering an area of some 20.82 square kilometres. It is close to the Deerfoot Trail and Stoney Trail freeways, which provide useful ground reference features when orienting a VFR approach into the area. As a major international airport, Calgary is served by a full suite of terminal air traffic control positions, including dedicated arrival, departure, ground and clearance frequencies, reflecting its status as a busy controlled aerodrome.
Calgary International has four physical runways, all with hard surfaces and lighting. The longest, 17L/35R, is 13,987 feet and equipped with ILS. Runway 17R/35L is 12,663 feet, also lit and ILS-equipped. A shorter pair, 11/29, measures around 7,981-7,982 feet and likewise carries ILS. The fourth runway, 08/26, is 6,187 feet, lit but without an instrument landing system. Field elevation is 3,553 feet.
Calgary Tower operates on 118.4 MHz for the west side and 118.875 MHz (also 236.6 MHz) for the east side of the field. Ground movement is split between South Ground on 121.9 MHz and North Ground on 125.35 MHz, with Calgary Clearance on 120.825 MHz. Departures are worked on 119.8 MHz, while Arrivals are split across 123.85 MHz (west), 125.9 MHz (east) and 126.525 MHz. The ATIS broadcasts on 128.225 MHz, and VFR Advisories are available on 119.4 MHz. Edmonton Centre provides remote air-ground communications outposts on 124.525 MHz and 133.3 MHz, with an Edmonton Radio flight information service on 123.375 MHz. The airport is equipped with ILS approaches to runways 17L/35R, 17R/35L and 11/29.
The first airport to serve Calgary opened in 1914 at Bowness, consisting of little more than a hut and a grass strip; the site is now occupied by a community centre and school. Operations later moved to Old Banff Coach Road Airport in 1928, and then to Calgary Municipal Airport (also known as Stanley Jones Airport) in Renfrew the following year after turbulence problems were encountered at the previous site. The Renfrew Air Service built the Rutledge Hangar there in 1929, a lamella-arch structure that survives today as a designated Alberta Provincial Historic Resource, though the airline itself folded in 1931 during the Great Depression. As Calgary grew around the Renfrew site, the city purchased land to the north in 1938 for the airport's present location, and the first of three federally-financed runways opened on 25 September that year. The new field was named McCall Field after First World War flying ace Fred McCall. With Canada's entry into the Second World War the federal government took control of the airfield in 1940, using it as a fuel and maintenance stop and, from October 1941 until March 1944, as the base for No. 37 Service Flying Training School. Passenger flights continued throughout the war, and by the end of hostilities the airport had grown to four runways with additional hangars. The City of Calgary resumed management in 1946, converting a hangar into a passenger terminal and extending the east-west runway to 6,200 feet by 1949. Continued growth through the 1950s and 1960s led the federal government to formally designate the airport terminal as Calgary International Airport in 1962, replacing the earlier Calgary Municipal Airport name, although many residents and even the mayor continued to refer to the field informally as McCall Field for years afterward.
Calgary International Airport today is the busiest airport in Alberta and the fourth-busiest in Canada, handling around 19.4 million passengers and over 200,000 aircraft movements a year. It serves as the global headquarters and primary hub for WestJet, a focus city for Air Canada and Air North, and an operating base for Central Mountain Air and Flair Airlines. The airport is one of only nine in Canada with United States border preclearance facilities, and its passenger terminal is organised into five concourses, A through E, handling domestic, US-bound and international traffic. The airport is protected by its own Emergency Response Service for aircraft rescue and firefighting.
