CC-115 Buffalo preserved in Summerside The airport was formerly a military airfield, established in 1940 as RCAF Station Summerside, changing its name to
CFB Summerside in 1968. The base was active in training aircrews in the
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during
World War II and hosting
search and rescue (SAR) and coastal surveillance units during the
Cold War. CFB Summerside was closed in 1990 and transferred to a local development authority named Slemon Park Corporation. The base property is now referred to as Slemon Park and the airfield has been named Summerside Airport. The airport is home to several aircraft maintenance companies, as well as a small
general aviation community. Summerside Airport's airfield and terminal facilities are located in the township of
Lot 17 and not in the city of Summerside proper; the municipal boundary is adjacent to the airport property with the city including the residential area of Slemon Park but not the airfield and industrial properties.
Past scheduled passenger airline service The airport was served by
Eastern Provincial Airways during the 1960s and early 1970s which operated nonstop flights to
Moncton and the
Magdalen Islands as well as direct service via a stop at the
Charlottetown Airport to
Halifax,
Sydney,
Deer Lake,
Gander and
St. John's with
Douglas DC-3 prop aircraft and
Handley Page Dart Herald turboprop aircraft. In 1995, Atlantic Island Airways was operating
Fokker F28 Fellowship jet service with nonstop flights from
Ottawa as well as direct one-stop service from
Toronto.
WestJet was serving the airport in 2009 with
Boeing 737-700 and
Boeing 737-800 jetliners but then ceased all flights into Summerside; however, WestJet continues to serve the
Charlottetown Airport on
Prince Edward Island. ==See also==