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Churchill Airport lies on the shore of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba, a remote gateway best known for its enormous ex-military runway that can accept diverted airliners as large as a Boeing 747 or 777. Once part of the wartime Fort Churchill installation and later a Strategic Air Command base, it now serves the town of Churchill, the surrounding Kivalliq region of Nunavut, and the area's thriving ecotourism trade.
Churchill Airport is a Transport Canada-owned aerodrome serving the town of Churchill, Manitoba, and the wider Kivalliq region of Nunavut to the north. It is a small but busy domestic field, handling a disproportionately high volume of traffic thanks to Churchill's status as a centre for polar bear and beluga whale tourism and Arctic scientific research, and it also functions as a transfer point for flights between Winnipeg and remote northern communities. For a visiting sim pilot, its most striking feature is a runway pair originally built to wartime military standards and long enough to take large jet diversions, a legacy that sets it apart from most airfields of its size.
The airport sits on the west shore of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba, about 3 nautical miles east-southeast of the town of Churchill, and roughly 110 kilometres from the Manitoba-Nunavut border. It is a remote, isolated field with no other significant aerodromes nearby, and area control is provided by Winnipeg Centre.
Churchill has two physical runways. The main runway, 15/33, is 9,139 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit, with an ILS serving runway 33, giving it the capacity to handle wide-body jet traffic. The secondary runway, 07/25, is 4,696 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit. Field elevation is 82 feet.
Churchill operates as a mandatory frequency (MF) aerodrome, with Churchill Radio providing the A/G and flight service station service on 122.2 MHz. Winnipeg Centre provides area control on 134.6 MHz. International Air Info can be reached on 126.9 MHz, and an Arctic Radio remote communications outlet is available on 126.7 MHz. Runway 33 is equipped with an ILS.
The airport originated as part of the Fort Churchill military installation, built in 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces with the permission of the Canadian government as a link in the trans-Atlantic Crimson Route, which ran from northern California across Hudson Bay, Baffin Island, Greenland and Iceland to the United Kingdom. It later supported the Canadian and American Churchill Rocket Research Range from the 1950s onward and, during the construction of the DEW Line between 1955 and 1958, handled the heaviest traffic in its history. The airfield went on to serve as a Strategic Air Command base, housing the 3949th Air Base Squadron of the 813th Strategic Aerospace Division, before Fort Churchill closed in 1980; the airport itself remained operational throughout and continues to be owned and operated by Transport Canada.
Churchill Airport remains in service under Transport Canada ownership, serving the town of Churchill and the surrounding Kivalliq region of Nunavut, with Calm Air operating scheduled flights to Winnipeg. Its long asphalt runway, a survivor of its military past, is maintained specifically so the field can act as a diversion airport for large jet aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 747 or 777 in the event of an emergency. The airport also sees significant seasonal traffic linked to ecotourism and scientific research in the Churchill area.
