Yarmouth Airport - History

History

In 1936 the Department of National Defence selected the site as a base for Maritime patrol aircraft. The airbase was separated in two part: East and West Camps. The West Camp was home to the Royal Canadian Air Force while the East Camp was part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. At East camp, the Royal Air Force's No. 34 Operational Training Unit (OTU) was initially located at Yarmouth from April 1942 to June 1942, but was then relocated to RCAF Station Pennfield Ridge, New Brunswick in June 1942. In November 1942 the Royal Navy established the No. 1 Naval Air Gunnery School (NAGS) was at Yarmouth. No. 1 NAGS ceased operations in March 1945.

After the war, the airfield switch to public/commercial use when it was transferred to Transport Canada. Regular scheduled flights were started by Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA), which became known as Air Canada in 1965. Yarmouth was transferred from Transport Canada to the Yarmouth Airport Commission Association on October 1, 1997. Air Canada ceased flights into Yarmouth in January 2003. Since then there have been several small operators who briefly provided air service between Halifax and Yarmouth, including Sou'West Air, who covered the route in 2003, and Starlink Airlines who operated between Halifax, Yarmouth and Portland, ME in 2009. The latter lasted less than one year, despite a $2 million provincial government subsidy meant to carry the airline through the first few years of startup. From March 15, 2010 to December 31, 2012, an American company, Twin Cities Air Service, provides service between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine on scheduled flights several times a week.