Prince George International Airport

PRINCE GEORGE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT T he Prince George International Airport is a commercial airport located in Prince George, British Columbia. The first airport in Prince George opened in 1920, and until 1932, it served as a stopover for aircraft, including those of the United States Army on route to Alaska. In 1932, the Airport was moved, and U.S. planes stopped over in large numbers in this second facility in the years just prior to World War II. In 1940, Canada’s Department of National Defense contracted to build a new (third) Prince George Airport as part of the Northwest Staging Route, created by the U.S. and Canada to provide protection, permit aircraft to be deployed rapidly to northwestern Canada and Alaska in time of emergency, and allow personnel and supplies to be moved into the region by air. “The Airport land was originally chosen by the Prince George city council back in 1940, and the main runway was completed in 1941,” recounts Susan Clarke, Manager of Marketing Communications and Customer Service. “At that time, PanAm Airways was operating from Seattle to Fairbanks, so they would stop at Prince George. Then we got Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1942. In addition to the two airlines, the Royal Canadian Airforce and the U.S. Army Airforce used the site. GATEWAY FOR THE NORTH