Edmonton City Centre Airport


Edmonton City Centre Airport, was an airport within the city of Edmonton, in the Canadian province of Alberta.
It was bordered by Yellowhead Trail to the north, Kingsway to the south, 121 Street to the west, and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Jefferson armouries to the east. It encompassed approximately of land just north of the city centre of Edmonton.
The airport was originally called Blatchford Field, named for former mayor Kenneth Alexander Blatchford. His son, Howard Blatchford, became a noted fighter pilot in World War II. It later was known as the Edmonton Municipal Airport, then as Edmonton Industrial Airport, and then Edmonton City Centre Airport, finally ending as Blatchford Field at Edmonton City Centre Airport. Over the years, the IATA airport code "YXD" continued to be used for the airport by all of the airlines serving the airfield.
The airport was closed in November 2013, and as of 2018, the land was being redeveloped by the City of Edmonton as a planned community called Blatchford.

Early history

The airport has a rich aviation history, being the first licensed airfield in Canada. Characters such as Wop May, a World War I flying ace and bush pilot, helped pioneer aviation in Alberta and Northern Canada, further solidifying Blatchford Field as the "Gateway to the North".
Along with May, the Mayor of Edmonton, Kenny Blatchford, had played a key role in establishing the airport in 1927. Blatchford's son, Howard Blatchford, became a fighter ace in WWII.
Wiley Post landed at the airport during both of his circumnavigations.

RCAF Station Edmonton

The airport served as a military airbase during World War II, when it was a major stop-over on the Northwest Staging Route and hosted two British Commonwealth Air Training Plan schools.
No. 2 Air Observer School, operated by Canadian Airways and Canadian Pacific Air Lines, opened at RCAF Station Edmonton on August 5, 1940. Later that year, on November 11, the Royal Canadian Air Force established No. 16 Elementary Flying Training School, operated by the Edmonton Flying Club; this school was closed on July 17, 1942, to allow for an expansion of No. 2 Air Observer School. Upon winding down of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, No. 2 AOS was closed on July 14, 1944. On 1 October 1955, all RCAF squadrons and support units were transferred to the "new" RCAF Station Namao. Blatchford Field was turned over to the Edmonton municipal government and became the commercial Edmonton City Centre Airport.
During this period, in about 1942, the aerodrome was listed at with a variation 25 degrees E and elevation of. The facility was listed as being a Department of Transport and RCAF Aerodrome and had three runways, listed as follows:
Runway NameLengthWidthSurface
3/21Hard surfaced
11/29Hard surfaced
15/33Hard surfaced

Weather

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

Scheduled passenger service

1950s and 1960s

In 1950, the airport was a stop on an international route operated by Northwest Airlines between the United States and Asia. According to the September 24, 1950, Northwest Airlines system timetable, the air carrier was operating Douglas DC-4 propliner service on a routing of New York City - Washington, D.C. - Chicago - Minneapolis–Saint Paul - Edmonton - Anchorage - Tokyo four days a week with continuing service to Okinawa and Manila or Taipei depending on the day of the week. By the late 1950s, three Canadian-based airlines were providing primary scheduled passenger air service at the airport: major air carriers Canadian Pacific Air Lines and Trans-Canada Air Lines as well as regional air carrier Pacific Western Airlines. In 1959, Canadian Pacific was operating international service to Europe with four nonstop flights a week flown with Douglas DC-6B "Empress" propliners between Edmonton and Amsterdam with these flights originating and terminating in Vancouver and was also operating local domestic service with Convair 240 prop aircraft to Grande Prairie, Alberta and Fort St. John, British Columbia. A year earlier in 1958, Trans-Canada was flying Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation and Canadair North Star propliners in addition to Vickers Viscount turboprops on nonstop services to Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg and Saskatoon as well as direct, no change of plane flights to Montreal. According to the June 1, 1958, Trans-Canada Air Lines system timetable, the air carrier was also operating five nonstop departures a day to Calgary with Viscount propjets. Pacific Western was operating regional services from the airport in 1959 with Curtiss C-46 and Douglas DC-4 prop aircraft to a number of Canadian destinations located north of Edmonton including Fort McMurray, Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, Fort Vermilion, Hay River, Inuvik, Norman Wells, Peace River, Uranium City, and Yellowknife.
By 1964, Pacific Western had expanded its domestic service from the airport with the addition of regional flights to Cambridge Bay, Coppermine, Dawson Creek, Fort Simpson and Wrigley as well as to the Resolute Bay Airport in the Arctic which is the second most northerly destination in Canada served by scheduled airline flights. By 1968, Pacific Western had introduced the Convair 640, a turboprop aircraft on many of its flights from the airport and had also introduced its "Chieftain Airbus" shuttle service linking Edmonton and Calgary operated with Douglas DC-6 propliners with six round trip nonstop flights a day between the two cities. According to the June 24, 1968 Pacific Western system timetable, Douglas DC-6 and DC-6B passenger aircraft as well as all-cargo Douglas DC-4 aircraft were also being operated by the airline to destinations located north of Edmonton. The jet age arrived at the airport in 1969 when Pacific Western introduced Boeing 737-200 jetliners with nonstop flights to Calgary, Fort Smith and Hay River with direct, no change of plane 737 jet service to Vancouver, Yellowknife, Kamloops, Kelowna, Cranbrook, Penticton, Inuvik and Norman Wells.

1970s and 1980s

Several types of jet passenger aircraft were operated into ECCA, notably the Boeing 737-200. As noted above, these 737 flights were initially operated by Pacific Western Airlines followed by its successor Canadian Airlines from the initial purchase of these aircraft in the late 1960s up until the merger of Pacific Western with Canadian, with the latter continuing to operate 737 flights into the airport. Pacific Western flew its "Chieftain Airbus" shuttle service between the airport and Calgary Airport for many years with the 737 and in 1976 was operating up to fourteen 737 200 series departures a day nonstop from ECCA to YYC in addition to operating direct 737 jet flights into the airport from British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. The runway lengths at ECCA mandated the absolute maximum performance characteristics of the Boeing 737-200 jetliner due to its weight; however, the extreme wear caused by utilizing this airfield and pushing these limits was a concern. Other jet service came in the form of the British Aerospace BAe 146-200 as Air Canada Connector flights operated by Air BC on behalf of Air Canada. McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets in Air Canada livery operated briefly out of ECCA in the mid 1980s but left due to field / weight limitations. Time Air and its later brand of Canadian Regional operated Fokker F28 Fellowship twin jets, while Echo Bay Mines operated a private passenger / cargo Boeing 727-100, a combi aircraft trijet, from the field for several years. Time Air previously operated Fokker F27 Friendship, de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and Short 330 turboprop aircraft from the airfield during the 1970s as well as Convair aircraft, de Havilland Canada Dash 7 and Dash 8 turboprops during the 1980s. Both the Twin Otter and Dash 7 have short takeoff and landing capabilities so runway length was not an issue for these particular aircraft types. Besides operating flights with 737 jets, Pacific Western also operated Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop service from the airport during the mid 1970s with nonstop flights to Fort Chipewyan, Fort McMurray and Peace River in Alberta as well as direct to Fort Smith and Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories.
By early 1985, Pacific Western was operating eighteen nonstop Boeing 737-200 flights every weekday from the airport to Calgary via its "Chieftain Airbus" shuttle schedule linking the two cities. There were also two other airlines competing with Pacific Western at this time on the Edmonton - Calgary nonstop route: Air Canada operating McDonnell Douglas DC-9 Series 30 jets with two flights on weekdays and Time Air operating de Havilland Canada Dash 7 turboprops with three flights on weekdays for a combined total of 23 flights every weekday operated by the three airlines. In contrast, there were only four nonstop jet flights every weekday from Calgary to Edmonton International Airport at this same time in 1985: one flight each respectively operated by Air Canada and CP Air and two flights operated by Pacific Western. Also in contrast at this same time, there was only one nonstop flight a day operated on the weekdays from Edmonton International to Calgary with this service being flown by CP Air. Other airlines serving ECCA as this time were Norcanair with Fairchild F-27 turboprop service nonstop from Lloydminster and direct from Saskatoon, and Southern Frontier Airlines with nonstop Beech 88 commuter turboprop service from Cold Lake. According to the April 28, 1985 Pacific Western system timetable, in addition to its nonstop flights to Calgary the airline was operating direct, no change of plane 737 jet service from the airport to the Canadian destinations of Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Cranbrook, Fort McMurray, Kamloops, Kelowna and Penticton. Pacific Western had become an all-jet air carrier with a fleet of 737 aircraft at this time. Time Air was also operating nonstop flights into the airport from other locations besides Calgary in 1985 including Grande Prairie and Peace River with these services being flown with Convair 640 turboprops as well as with the Dash 7.
The airport also had service to the U.S. during the mid 1980s. In 1985, Pacific Western was operating direct, no change of plane Boeing 737-200 jet service to Seattle via intermediate stops at Calgary and Vancouver. In 1987, Continental Airlines in conjunction with Pacific Western was operating two flights a day to Texas with direct service to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Pacific Western operated the Edmonton-Calgary portion of the service with Boeing 737-200s and passengers then transferred to Continental operated 727 100 Series jetliners in Calgary for the flights to Texas. According to the February 1, 1987 Continental timetable, the respective routings of these flights were YXD-YYC-DFW-IAH and YXD-YYC-IAH, and both services were operated with Continental flight numbers.