Gander International Airport

Gander International Airport
IATA: YQX ICAO: CYQX WMO: 71803
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Transport Canada
Operator	Gander International Airport Authority
Serves	Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador
Time zone	NST (UTC−03:30)
• Summer (DST)	NDT (UTC−02:30)
Elevation AMSL	496 ft / 151 m
Coordinates	48°56′13″N 054°34′05″W / 48.93694°N 54.56806°W / 48.93694; -54.56806Coordinates: 48°56′13″N 054°34′05″W / 48.93694°N 54.56806°W / 48.93694; -54.56806
Website	www.ganderairport.com
Maps
Transport Canada airport diagram
CYQX Location in Newfoundland and Labrador
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 03/21 10,200 3,109 Asphalt 13/31 8,900 2,713 Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Aircraft movements 35,905
Sources: Canada Flight Supplement Environment Canada Movements from Statistics Canada

Gander International Airport (IATA: YQX, ICAO: CYQX) is located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and is operated by the Gander International Airport Authority. Canadian Forces Base Gander shares the airfield but is a separate entity from the airport.

Construction of the airport began in 1936 and it was opened in 1938, with its first landing on January 11 of that year, by Captain Douglas Fraser flying a Fox Moth of Imperial Airways. Within a few years it had four runways and was the largest airport in the world. Its official name until 1941 was Newfoundland Airport.

In 1940, the operation of the Newfoundland Airport was assigned by the Dominion of Newfoundland to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and it was renamed RCAF Station Gander in 1941. The airfield was heavily used by Ferry Command for transporting newly built aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean to the European Theatre, as well as for staging operational anti-submarine patrols dedicated to hunting U-boats in the northwest Atlantic. Thousands of aircraft flown by the United States Army Air Corps/United States Army Air Forces and the RCAF destined for the European Theatre travelled through Gander.

The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) also established Naval Radio Station Gander at the airfield, using the station as a listening post to detect the transmissions and location of enemy submarines and warships.