from a grassy runway to a sleek new complex: calgary's airports over the decades
an airport with a grass runway, of course, wasn’t going...
aug 1 2024
3 minute read
the calgary airport in 1959.
courtesy glenbow archives na-5093-671
for more than 120 years, people have been fascinated by flight. that’s when t he wright brothers developed the first successful powered airplane (in 1903), and soon afterwards cities around the world began building airports to accommodate planes. in calgary, a stretch of vast open land in bowness was used as the city’s first airport, starting in 1914 and complete with a grass runway.
this herald file photo, provided to the newspaper by the royal canadian navy, shows a plane at the bowness airport in the 1920s.
an airport with a grass runway, of course, wasn’t going to cut it long term and the city began looking for a home for a new calgary airport. officials tried an area in 1928 southwest of the city, named the old banff coach road airport, but it was decided the turbulence in the area was too extreme.
next up, they built an airport in the neighbourhood we now know as renfrew, calling it the calgary municipal airport or stanley jones airport. a local airline called renfrew air service built the rutledge hangar at 6 street and 13 avenue n.e. built in 1929, the rutledge hangar is the only remaining building still standing from calgary’s first publicly operated airport.
this photo was taken in 1930, one year after that airport opened in renfrew, and supplied to us by reader herb berke, pictured with friends who were members of the calgary aero club.
city growth soon began squeezing this airport and it was again relocated — this time to its current site. the city purchased the land, north of the city, for $31,000 in 1938. it signed a deal with trans-canada air lines (which became air canada) to construct and lease a hangar. ottawa financed the building of three runways and the new airport was called mccall field after first world war flying ace fred mccall. in late january 1939, the first plane landed at the new airport. not only was this a big deal for air travel; it also meant calgary would become part of an alberta loop of air mail service.
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here, people are milling about outside the new airport around 1940, as they wait for an act in an air show.
calgary, however, continued to grow and soon it outgrew this facility. a new passenger terminal was built in 1956. construction led to a $1 million project. by the following year, there would be almost 111,000 passenger arrivals here.
the calgary airport in 1959. photo courtesy glenbow archives na-5093-671.
courtesy glenbow archives na-5093-671
calgary began lobbying ottawa to get approval to call mccall field an international airport, since it was up to the federal government to provide that designation. the first non-stop transatlantic flights were scheduled by canadian pacific airlines in 1961, connecting calgary to amsterdam. more european destinations followed the next year. status was officially granted in 1969.
calgary herald front page, nov. 5, 1968
meanwhile, the air industry in calgary had exploded. a new passenger terminal at the airport was started in 1972, but there were numerous delays along the way. it eventually opened on oct. 12, 1977, at a cost of $130 million — more than twice the $57.7 million estimated original cost.
this 1977 herald editorial cartoon poked fun at the delays that occurred in constructing the new airport.
when the airport opened in 1977, things didn’t go entirely smoothly. a malfunctioning door kept dignitaries locked in a room, delaying the opening ceremonies. a planned landing of the supersonic concorde didn’t occur on opening day, due to mechanical problems with that plane. the terminal itself, however, was a hit with the public and that terminal remains a core part of the expanded airport that we see today.
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over the years, the local aviation industry grew. the government of alberta bought pacific western airlines and moved the head office and hub to calgary.
pacific western airlines merged with canadian pacific airlines and in march 1987 it formed canadian airlines, headquartered in calgary. the move shook the airline industry at the time and newspaper stories quoted industry analysts who said for the first time there was a powerful new competitor for air canada. in 1999, air canada made a bid to acquire canadian airlines and was ultimately successful in this endeavour.
the story of airlines in calgary took a new turn with the creation of westjet — the little airline that could. it was founded in june 1994 and began operating in 1996.
this photo shows westjet’s very first official flight on feb. 29, 1996.
calgary herald file photo.
a newer chapter in calgary’s airport history started on oct. 31 2016, when yyc calgary international airport opened. it’s a $1.6 billion terminal, two million square feet in size, which added 24 new aircraft gates. leading up to this, the airport also saw a new air traffic control tower open, new runways and the westjet campus/headquarters. pre-covid, the airport saw 17.9 million passengers use the airport each year. last year, that number was back up to 18.5 million after plummeting during covid.
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