Early history The first airport to serve Calgary opened in 1914, in the then-town of
Bowness. It occupied one-square kilometre () and consisted of a hut and a grass runway. The site is now the location of a community centre (The Landing) as well as Bowness High School and Bowglen Park. Operations shifted to a new airport southwest of the city in 1928, named Old Banff Coach Road Airport (). However, issues with
turbulence in the area prompted another airfield to be built the following year in the neighbourhood of
Renfrew known as the
Calgary Municipal Airport Present site and World War II As the City of Calgary grew to surround the Renfrew airport site the municipal government decided to relocate the airport to a new location. The city purchased an area of land north of Calgary in 1938 for about $31,000; and remains the site of Calgary's current airport. The city came to an agreement with
Trans-Canada Air Lines to construct and lease a hangar on the site for $45,000 (), and the federal
Department of Transportation financed the construction of three runways and other improvements, the first of which opened on 25 September. The new Calgary airfield was named
McCall Field after
First World War ace and lifelong Calgarian
Fred McCall. As a result of Canada entering the
Second World War, the federal government assumed control of McCall Field in 1940, re-purposing it as a fuel and maintenance stop for aircraft involved in the war effort and later stationing the
No. 37 Service Flying Training School at the airfield from 22 October 1941 until its closure on 10 March 1944. McCall Field continued to operate regular passenger flights during the Second World War. At the time of completion, McCall Field's east–west runway was the third-longest runway in Alberta behind the Calgary Airport's north–south runway and the runway at
CFB Namao. The festivities included an
air show featuring an
Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck. In the 1960s
Calgary City Council began lobbying the federal government to designate McCall Field as an "international airport", a status defined by the Department of Transportation. As a compromise on 6 April 1962, the federal government approved naming the airport terminal Calgary International Airport from Calgary Municipal Airport. However, Mayor
Harry Hays, local
aldermen and residents continued to refer to the airport in general as McCall Field. Calgary International Airport did not receive official "International" status from the federal government until 1969. The first non-stop
transatlantic flights were scheduled by
Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1961, connecting Calgary with
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and more flights from Europe commenced the following year. The
jet age arrived shortly after the construction of Calgary's new passenger terminal. The terminal was not designed with
jet aircraft in mind, and the airport's runways were not suitable for the larger and faster aircraft. In 1961 the airport replaced the diagonal runway with an runway capable of handling modern jet aircraft. In 1963 the airport underwent a $4-million refurbishment which saw improved electronic landing aids, and the main north–south runway extended by to its present length of . The City of Calgary was unable to afford the continued upgrades the Calgary Municipal Airport necessary to cope with the rising aircraft traffic. Construction began on the new passenger terminal in 1972, construction would be delayed due to re-designs to meet increased air traffic needs, causing the price of the new terminal to grow well beyond the original $20-million figure. Among other festivities for the opening event included flyovers by a
Boeing 747,
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, and the
Canadian Air Force Snowbirds. The 1977 passenger terminal remains the core of Calgary International Airport's domestic terminal to this day. Air Canada was not far behind, and began non-stop service to London using the 747 starting on 27 June 1974. In April 1974, Calgary International Airport hosted
CP Air's flight testing for the Boeing 747 after
airport firefighters went on
strike at both
Vancouver International Airport and
Toronto Pearson Airport. In 1974 the
Government of Alberta acquired ownership of
Pacific Western Airlines, Canada's third largest airline at the time and moved the
head office and hub to Calgary. The airline continued under provincial government ownership until 1983, until it was acquired by Air Canada in 2001.
1990s: Reorganization and WestJet In the early 1990s, the Government of Canada introduced the
National Airports Policy which moved towards privatization, liberalization and economic deregulation of air transportation, which included the formation of a local airport authority under the name Calgary Airport Authority in 1992 for the management, operation and development of the Calgary International Airport under lease from the federal government. The Calgary Airport Authority, incorporated in July 1990 is a
non-share capital,
not-for-profit corporation formed under the authority of Alberta's
Regional Airports Authorities Act. In February 1996,
WestJet, which began as a
low-cost carrier began operations with a base of operations at Calgary International, occupying an expanded area of the terminal. The airline's first flight, a
Boeing 737 departed Calgary International on route to Vancouver International Airport on 29 February 1996.
Operation Yellow Ribbon During the
September 11, 2001 attacks 13 international flights destined for the United States were diverted to Calgary International Airport as part of
Operation Yellow Ribbon. The operation was a joint effort between NAV Canada and Transport Canada in communication with the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration, which facilitated the
grounding of potentially destructive air traffic.
2000s: Runway and new terminal The Calgary Airport Authority began analyzing the facility's air capacity in the late 1990s, and found the airport could reach its maximum capacity as early as 2006. The Airport Authority and
NAV Canada made a number of changes to airport operations in the 2000s to improve the efficiency and capacity of the facility, but by 2008, with a number of changes made, NAV Canada reported the airfield would begin to exceed its practical capacity. The Calgary Airport Authority planned and under the "Airport Development Program", a major development program aimed at improving the capacity and quality of the airport, which included the construction of a new runway, air traffic control tower and passenger terminal. On 25 May 2013, the new
Air Traffic Control Tower opened at Calgary International Airport. The one-year, $25-million (equivalent to $-million) project came in advance of the airport's new runway, and at 91 m (300 ft), the tower was the tallest free-standing control tower in Canada. The airport's previous 50 m (165 ft) control tower was demolished in October 2014. The Calgary Airport Authority initiated the Parallel Runway Project, a $620-million (equivalent to $-million) project to assess and construct a new runway, which led to the construction of the runway 17L/35R beginning in April 2011. Upon its completion on 28 June 2014, runway 17L/35R became the
longest runway in Canada. During the construction of the runway, a $295-million (equivalent to $-million), , six-lane roadway tunnel was constructed underneath the runway to connect
Barlow Trail to 36th Street N.E. and now, to the edge of the city at the major freeway of Stoney Trail, Calgary's "Ring Road." The decision for
Calgary City Council on whether to construct the tunnel while the runway was being constructed, or wait until a later date was a major issue during the
2010 Calgary municipal election. The Airport Authority addressed cargo capacity through the construction of a cargo facility in 2015 followed by a facility constructed in 2016. The final stage of the Calgary Airport Authority's Airport Development Program was the construction of a new $1.6-billion (equivalent to $-billion) international terminal. Officially opened on 31 October 2016, the international terminal facility added 24 new
aircraft gates, North America's first
call-to-gate passenger boarding system,
CATSA Plus enhanced passenger screening system, moving walkways and electric concourse connection tram system. The international terminal was designed with several sustainable principles including 581
geothermal wells for heating and cooling, and an annual
rainwater capture capacity of . In 2020, after several months of travel restrictions due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the governments of Alberta and Canada announced a new program to enable certain travellers to enter Canada more easily. Canadian citizens and essential workers entering Canada at Calgary, as well as at the
Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing, can be tested for the
virus and, if they test negative, will be allowed to quarantine for only 48 hours instead of the usual 14 days. On August 5, 2024, a hailstorm damaged the airport and numerous WestJet aircraft, but there were no injuries. While the other damaged areas of the airport were repaired promptly, Concourse B and its gates (gates 31-40) will be closed for at least 18 months, but this will not impact airport operations. ==Infrastructure==