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K'il Kun Xidgwangs Daanaay Airport, formerly Sandspit Airport, sits on Moresby Island in Haida Gwaii, serving the small community of Sandspit on Canada's remote north-west coast. Its single hard-surfaced runway, complete with an ILS, makes it an interesting and slightly unusual VFR destination given the airfield's isolation and wartime origins as an RCAF airbase.
K'il Kun Xidgwangs Daanaay Airport (still widely known by its former name, Sandspit Airport) is a Transport Canada-owned aerodrome serving the community of Sandspit on Moresby Island, part of the Haida Gwaii archipelago off the north-west coast of British Columbia. It is the main air link for this remote island group, accessible otherwise only by sea, and is of interest to visiting pilots both for its dramatic coastal setting and for its history as a wartime RCAF station.
The airport lies on Moresby Island in Haida Gwaii, about 1.5 nautical miles northeast of the village of Sandspit, British Columbia, in one of Canada's most remote regions. Overlying air traffic services are provided from Vancouver Centre, and Terrace Radio provides flight information and advisory service to the field; there is no local control tower, so arriving traffic should expect to operate on an advisory basis rather than under full ATC.
The airport has a single runway aligned 13/31, 5,100 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. Runway 13 is equipped with an ILS, giving pilots a precision approach aid into an otherwise remote strip; runway 31 is lit but without an instrument approach.
Pilots should contact Terrace Radio on the A/G frequency 122.3 MHz for aerodrome advisory service. An automated weather observing system (AWOS) broadcasts on 122.55 MHz. Vancouver Centre provides area control on 133.4 MHz, and Pacific Radio can be reached via remote communications outlet on 126.7 MHz. An ILS serves runway 13 for instrument approaches.
The airfield was built by the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War and operated as RCAF Station Sandspit. On 19 January 1952 it was the scene of a serious accident when a Douglas DC-4 operating as Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 324 attempted to land after suffering an engine failure; the aircraft touched down but lifted off again, could not regain speed and altitude, and struck the water about 4,500 feet beyond the end of the runway, killing 36 of the 43 people on board. In March 2024, the Council of the Haida Nation and Transport Canada announced that Sandspit Airport had been renamed K'il Kun Xidgwangs Daanaay, meaning "Sandspit flying place" in the Haida language, marking the first Transport Canada airport to be renamed with an Indigenous name.
The airport is owned and operated by Transport Canada and remains the principal air gateway to Haida Gwaii's Sandspit community, which otherwise is reachable only by air or sea. Air Canada Express operates scheduled services linking the field to Vancouver. The terminal building includes a small café for travellers. Given its remote location and lack of a control tower, pilots planning a visit should be prepared for advisory-only radio procedures and should confirm current operating requirements before flying in.
