National Airports System


In Canada, the National Airports System is a group of major airports defined in the National Airports Policy published in 1994. It was intended to include all airports with an annual traffic of 200,000 passengers or more, as well as airports serving the national, provincial and territorial capitals.
All airports in the NAS, with the exception of the three territorial capitals, are owned by Transport Canada and leased to the local authorities operating them. The three territorial airports are owned and, with the exception of Iqaluit Airport, are operated by their respective territorial governments. Iqaluit is operated by Nunavut Airport Services Limited, a subsidiary of WASCO, which in turn is a subsidiary of Winnipeg Airports Authority.
Due to very close proximity to Canada's east coast, the airports on the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon cooperate with Canada on air travel via several major Canadian airports.

NAS airports

The following list contains the 26 NAS airports effective 13 May 2024, the location, operator, and their passenger numbers for 2023 :
Province/territoryAirportCityIATA CodeOperatorPassengers
AlbertaCalgary InternationalCalgaryYYCCalgary Airport Authority18,490,283
AlbertaEdmonton InternationalEdmontonYEGEdmonton Regional Airports Authority7,499,163
British ColumbiaKelowna InternationalKelownaYLWCity of Kelowna2,032,624
British ColumbiaPrince GeorgePrince GeorgeYXSPrince George Airport Authority417,848
British ColumbiaVancouver InternationalVancouverYVRVancouver International Airport Authority24,938,184
British ColumbiaVictoria InternationalVictoriaYYJVictoria Airport Authority1,740,107
ManitobaWinnipeg InternationalWinnipegYWGWinnipeg Airports Authority4,094,793
New BrunswickFredericton InternationalFrederictonYFCFredericton International Airport Authority333,813
New BrunswickGreater Moncton InternationalGreater MonctonYQMGreater Moncton International Airport Authority600,121
New BrunswickSaint JohnSaint JohnYSJSaint John Airport Inc175,100
Newfoundland and LabradorGander InternationalGanderYQXGander International Airport Authority109,678
Newfoundland and LabradorSt. John's InternationalSt. John'sYYTSt. John’s International Airport Authority1,260,000
Northwest TerritoriesYellowknifeYellowknifeYZFGovernment of the Northwest Territories392,130
Nova ScotiaHalifax InternationalHalifaxYHZHalifax International Airport Authority3,579,293
NunavutIqaluitIqaluitYFBNunavut Airport Services Limited156,633
OntarioLondon InternationalLondonYXUGreater London International Airports Authority332,447
OntarioOttawa InternationalOttawaYOWOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport Authority4,095,914
OntarioThunder Bay InternationalThunder BayYQTThunder Bay International Airports714,070
OntarioToronto InternationalTorontoYYZGreater Toronto Airports Authority44,800,000
Prince Edward IslandCharlottetownCharlottetownYYGCharlottetown Airport Authority402,686
QuebecMontréal–Trudeau InternationalMontrealYULAéroports de Montréal21,173,941
QuebecMontréal–Mirabel InternationalMontrealYMXAéroports de Montréal0
QuebecQuébec City InternationalQuebec CityYQBAéroport de Québec1,688,736
SaskatchewanRegina InternationalReginaYQRRegina Airport Authority981,845
SaskatchewanSaskatoon InternationalSaskatoonYXESaskatoon Airport Authority1,277,863
YukonWhitehorse InternationalWhitehorseYXYGovernment of Yukon286,407