Edmonton City Centre (Blatchford Field) Airport - History

History

The airport has a rich aviation history, being the first licensed airfield in Canada (1929). Characters such as Wop May helped pioneer aviation in Alberta and Northern Canada, further solidifying Blatchford Field as the "Gateway to the North". Wiley Post landed there during both of his circumnavigations. The airport was also a major stop-over on the Northwest Staging Route during World War II and hosted a wartime British Commonwealth Air Training Plan flying school and an air observer school. A full history can be gathered at the Alberta Aviation Museum.

A weather station was established in 1937. Over the years since then, its site has witnessed increasing influence by the urban heat island effect. By the mid-1970s, "Edmonton Municipal A." (as listed in the Monthly Record of Meteorological Observations in Canada) was regularly recording some of the longest frost-free periods in the Prairie Provinces with the first fall frost often not coming before October.

The ECCA has been embroiled in a fierce debate for several decades. In the 1950s, the need for a longer set of runways to accommodate the larger aircraft on the horizon was clear. With no ability to expand CYXD, the search was on for a new site. Despite the military base at Namao (now CFB Edmonton), just north of the city, built by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in World War II and expanded to handle SAC (Strategic Air Command) in the 1950s with the largest runway in Canada, the current site for the Edmonton International Airport (CYEG) was chosen at Leduc, 14 NM (26 km; 16 mi) south southwest of downtown Edmonton. Upon completion of the international airport in 1963, CYXD was to close. After being examined by consultants, and with the unforeseen development of Regional Passenger Service, especially to Calgary, it was decided by the City of Edmonton to keep CYXD open, and entered Edmonton into a 30+ year airport debate that has shaped logistics, transportation, and regional disparity issues ever since.

Several types of jet passenger aircraft did use CYXD, notably the Boeing 737-200. These were initially operated by Pacific Western Airlines and its later incarnation Canadian Airlines from their initial purchase in the late 1960s up until consolidation. The runway lengths are based on the absolute maximum performance characteristics and weight of this airliner; however, the extreme wear caused by utilising this field and pushing these limits was a concern. Other jet service came in the form of the BAe 146 as an Air Canada connector flight operated by Air BC. DC-9s in Air Canada livery operated briefly out of YXD in the early 1980s but left due to field/weight limitations. Time Air and its later brand of Canadian Regional operated Fokker F28s and Echo Bay Mines Limited operated a private 727-100 from the field for several years. However, the demands for ever increasing range and the increased weight and runway length requirements for the next generation aircraft in these series made their use at CYXD economically and in the many cases physically impossible.

In the 1992 municipal election, the City of Edmonton held a plebiscite with the question of "Are you in favour of bylaw No. 10,205, The Edmonton Municipal Airport Referendum bylaw?". This bylaw kept CYXD open to all traffic that the field could legally handle; 54% approved. In the 1995 election, a second plebiscite was put forth to the citizens of Edmonton asking if the bylaw should be repealed on the basis of consolidating all scheduled traffic at CYEG. A determination of whether to close the airport was not an option. 77% of voters approved this version, and in June 1996, the consolidation process was finalized.

Currently, CYXD remains open as per the lease with the City of Edmonton. There are small passenger airlines that can utilize the facility. These airlines, however, are not allowed to transport more than 10 passengers and are restricted to which destinations they can serve - primarily destinations north of the city. Edmonton City Centre Airport is mainly used for air charter, general aviation, flight training and medivac (air ambulance).