Gander International Airport is located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is currently run by the Gander Airport Authority , and its IATA airport code is YQX.

History

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.

Gander was a major airport during the Second World War due to the heavy transit traffic across the North Atlantic to the United Kingdom. Almost all the planes destined for the European front travelled through Gander. Its importance was largely a matter of geography, as Gander lies almost precisely on the great circle route between the major cities of the U.S. East Coast and London and was sufficiently close to Europe to allow the piston-engined planes of that day to make a non-refueled transatlantic crossing from there.

After the war, as transatlantic traffic increased, Gander retained its prominence due to the need for a refueling point. Airlines such as Trans-Canada Airways (later Air Canada), British Overseas Airways Corporation (later British Airways), and Pan American World Airways made Gander their main refueling point.

With the advent of jet aircraft with extended ranges in the late 1960s, the need for a refueling point ceased on most flights. Gander has steadily decreased in importance since then, but it remains the home of Gander Control , which with Shannon Control , control the high level airways of the North Atlantic. Thus every plane travelling to and from Europe or North America must talk to either or both of these ATCs.

During the cold war Gander was also notable for the number of persons from the former Warsaw Pact nations who defected there. It was one of the few refueling points where airplanes could stop en route from eastern Europe or the Soviet Union to Cuba.

On September 11, 2001, with United States airspace closed due to the terrorist attacks, Gander International played host to 39 airliners, totaling 6,122 passengers and 473 crew as part of Operation Yellow Ribbon. The reception these travellers received has been one of the most widely reported happy stories surrounding that day. The airport was the site for Canada's memorial service to mark the first anniversary of the attack, which Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Transport Minister David Collenette, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci, and provicial and local officials presided over and 2,500 people who were among the 6,600 that were diverted there the year before attended.

Runways

Currently, Gander has only two active runways: runway 13-31 of 8,900 feet, and runway 04-22 which measures 10,500 feet in length.

External links

• Gander International Airport
• Tales of Gander hospitality on September 11 (snopes.com)