Canada Flight Supplement
The Canada Flight Supplement is a joint civil/military publication and is a supplement of the Aeronautical Information Publication. It is the nation's official airport directory, it contains information on all registered Canadian and certain Atlantic aerodromes and certified airports. The CFS is published, separately in English and French, as a paper book by Nav Canada and is issued once every 56 days on the ICAO AIRAC schedule; the CFS was published by Natural Resources Canada on behalf of Transport Canada and the Department of National Defence until 15 March 2007 edition, at which time Nav Canada took over production. The CFS presents runway data and departure procedures, air traffic control and other radio frequencies and services such as fuel, hangarage that are available at each listed aerodrome; as well, the CFS contains useful reference pages, including interception instructions for civil aircraft, chart updating data and search and rescue information. Most pilots flying in Canada carry a copy of the CFS in case a weather or mechanical diversion to another airport becomes necessary.
The Canada Flight Supplement is made up of seven sections: Special Notices — list of new or amended procedures. General Section — glossary, airport code listing, list of abandoned aerodromes, other introductory information. Aerodrome/Facility Directory — list all aerodromes alphabetically by the community in which they are located. A sketch of the airport is included showing runway layout, locations of buildings and tower. Included in the sketch is an obstacle clearance circle. Planning — general flight planning information, including flight plans and position reports, lists of significant new towers and other obstructions, chart updating, preferred IFR routes, similar information. Radio Navigation and Communications — listing of radio navigation aids and communication outlets, together with all known commercial AM broadcasters and their locations and frequencies. Military Flight Data and Procedures — military flight and reporting procedures for Canada and the U. S. Emergency — emergency procedures and guidelines for hijacks, fuel dumping and rescue, etc.
Carrying "current aeronautical charts and publications covering the route of the proposed flight and any probable diversionary route" is a requirement under CAR 602.60 for night VFR, VFR Over-The-Top and instrument flight rules flights. This Canadian Aviation Regulation does not require carriage of a copy of the CFS, but, one way to satisfy the regulation; because information in the CFS may be out of date with regard to such issues as runway closures and fuel availability, pilots should check NOTAMs before each flight. NOTAM information in Canada can be obtained from the Nav Canada Aviation Weather Website or by contacting the appropriate regional Nav Canada Flight Information Centre. While Nav Canada's CFS has the monopoly on paper-version airport directories in Canada, there are several competing internet publications, including the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association's Places to Fly user-editable airport directory. Nav Canada publishes the Water Aerodrome Supplement, as a single volume in English and French.
This contains information on all Canadian water aerodromes as shown on visual flight rules charts and other information such as navaids. The WAS is published on an annual basis. Airport/Facility Directory – U. S. publications equivalent to the Aerodrome/Facility and Planning chapters of the CFS, but divided into several volumes covering different regions. Official website
Yukon
Yukon is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three federal territories. It has the smallest population of any province or territory in Canada, with 35,874 people, although it has the largest city in any of the three territories. Whitehorse is Yukon's only city. Yukon was split from the Northwest Territories in 1898 and was named the Yukon Territory; the federal government's Yukon Act, which received royal assent on March 27, 2002, established Yukon as the territory's official name, though Yukon Territory is still popular in usage and Canada Post continues to use the territory's internationally approved postal abbreviation of YT. Though bilingual, the Yukon government recognizes First Nations languages. At 5,959 m, Yukon's Mount Logan, in Kluane National Park and Reserve, is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest on the North American continent. Most of Yukon has a subarctic climate, characterized by brief warm summers; the Arctic Ocean coast has a tundra climate. Notable rivers include the Yukon River, as well as the Pelly, Peel and Tatshenshini rivers.
The territory is named after the longest river in Yukon. The name itself is from a contraction of the words in the Gwich'in phrase chųų gąįį han, which means white water river and refers to "the pale colour" of glacial runoff in the Yukon River. Long before the arrival of Europeans and southern Yukon was populated by First Nations people, the area escaped glaciation. Sites of archeological significance in Yukon hold some of the earliest evidence of the presence of human habitation in North America; the sites safeguard the earliest First Nations of the Yukon. The volcanic eruption of Mount Churchill in 800 AD in what is now the U. S. state of Alaska blanketed southern Yukon with a layer of ash which can still be seen along the Klondike Highway, which forms part of the oral tradition of First Nations peoples in Yukon and further south in Canada. Coastal and inland First Nations had extensive trading networks. European incursions into the area began early in the 19th century with the fur trade, followed by missionaries.
By the 1870s and 1880s gold miners began to arrive. This drove a population increase that justified the establishment of a police force, just in time for the start of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897; the increased population coming with the gold rush led to the separation of the Yukon district from the Northwest Territories and the formation of the separate Yukon Territory in 1898. The territory is the approximate shape of a right triangle, bordering the U. S. state of Alaska to the west and northwest for 1,210 km along longitude 141° W, the Northwest Territories to the east and British Columbia to the south. Its northern coast is on the Beaufort Sea, its ragged eastern boundary follows the divide between the Yukon Basin and the Mackenzie River drainage basin to the east in the Mackenzie mountains. Most of the territory is in the watershed of the Yukon River; the southern Yukon is dotted with a large number of large and narrow glacier-fed alpine lakes, most of which flow into the Yukon River system.
The larger lakes include Teslin Lake, Atlin Lake, Tagish Lake, Marsh Lake, Lake Laberge, Kusawa Lake and Kluane Lake. Bennett Lake on the Klondike Gold Rush trail is a lake flowing into Nares Lake, with the greater part of its area within Yukon. Canada's highest point, Mount Logan, is in the territory's southwest. Mount Logan and a large part of Yukon's southwest are in Kluane National Park and Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other national parks include Ivvavik National Vuntut National Park in the north. Other watersheds include the Mackenzie River, the Peel Watershed and the Alsek–Tatshenshini, a number of rivers flowing directly into the Beaufort Sea; the two main Yukon rivers flowing into the Mackenzie in the Northwest Territories are the Liard River in the southeast and the Peel River and its tributaries in the northeast. Notable widespread tree species within Yukon are white spruce. Many trees are stunted because of severe climate; the capital, Whitehorse, is the largest city, with about three-quarters of the population.
British Columbia Northwest Territories Alaska, United States While the average winter temperature in Yukon is mild by Canadian arctic standards, no other place in North America gets as cold as Yukon during extreme cold snaps. The temperature has dropped down to −60 °C three times, 1947, 1954, 1968; the most extreme cold snap occurred in February 1947 when the abandoned town of Snag dropped down to −63.0 °C. Unlike most of Canada where the most extreme heat waves occur in July and September, Yukon's extreme heat tends to occur in June and May. Yukon has recorded 36 °C three times; the first time was in June 1969 when Mayo recorded a temperature of 36.1 °C. 14 years this record was beaten when Forty Mile recorded 36 °C in May 1983. The old record was broken 21 years in June 2004 when the Mayo Road weather station, located just northwest of Whitehorse, recorded a temperature of 36.5 °C. The 2016 census reported a Yukon population of 35,874, an increase of 5.8% from 2011. With a land area of 474,712.64 km2, it had a population de
Lacombe, Alberta
Lacombe is a city in Alberta, Canada. It is located 25 kilometres north of Red Deer, the nearest major city, 125 kilometres south of Edmonton, the nearest metropolitan area; the city is set in the rolling parkland of central Alberta, between the Rocky Mountains foothills to the west and the flatter Alberta prairie to the east. Lacombe became Alberta's 17th city on September 5, 2010. Lacombe is named after Albert Lacombe, a French-Canadian Roman Catholic Oblate missionary who lived among and evangelized the Cree and Blackfoot First Nations of western Canada, he is now remembered for having brokered a peace between the Cree and Blackfoot, negotiating construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway through Blackfoot territory, securing a promise from the Blackfoot leader Crowfoot to refrain from joining the North-West Rebellion of 1885. The Lacombe Police Service have policed the community since 1900. In 1880 the first land surveys of the Lacombe area took place and three years in 1883, the first permanent settler arrived, Ed Barnett.
Barnett was a retired member of the North-West Mounted Police. He left Fort Macleod in August 1881 at 23 years of age. According to his own diary and his official obituary in the RCMP Quarterly, spring 1940, on July 19, 1881, Barnett was among a small NWMP party that escorted Chief Sitting Bull and his people to the Canada–US border. Along the Calgary-Edmonton Trail, he established a "stopping house" for travelers on a land grant given to him for serving his service in the NWMP, his family and friends from Ontario moved out and the community began to grow. The stopping house became known as Barnett's Siding; the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in 1891. This provided better access to new opportunities for settlement. By 1893 the downtown blocks and lots were surveyed. Village status was granted in 1896 and town status in 1902. In 1907, the federal government set up an experimental farm to research grain and livestock production; the President of the C. P. R. William Van Horne renamed Barnett's Siding as Lacombe in honour of Father Lacombe.
Lacombe experiences a humid continental climate. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the City of Lacombe recorded a population of 13,057 living in 4,797 of its 5,034 total private dwellings, a change of 11.5% from its 2011 population of 11,707. With a land area of 20.81 km2, it had a population density of 627.4/km2 in 2016. The population of the City of Lacombe according to its 2014 municipal census was 12,728, a change of 8.5% from its 2009 municipal census population of 11,733. In the 2011 Census, the City of Lacombe had a population of 11,707 living in 4,413 of its 4,686 total dwellings, a change of 8.9% from its 2006 adjusted population of 10,752. With a land area of 20.89 km2, it had a population density of 560.4/km2 in 2011. Nestled in one of Central Alberta's most fertile valleys between Calgary and Edmonton, the local economy includes a strong agricultural base supplemented by oil and gas industry; the city is home to the Lacombe Research Centre where the first livestock breed developed in Canada, the Lacombe hog, was produced.
For more than a century, the federal government has funded agricultural research through a network of research centres strategically placed in every province. This research program has played a major role in developing the more than $120-billion Canadian agrifood industry; the Lacombe Research Centre is one of a network of 19 national agricultural research centres operated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The Centre conducts research in field crops and livestock production relevant to the central Alberta region; the Centre's main research focuses on the factors that influence red meat: yield, quality and preservation. The Centre develops integrated, sustainable crop and animal production systems and crop varieties for the short-season environments of the parkland and northwestern Canada; the LRC developed. Work began in 1947, it took 12 years to develop the'Lacombe' variety, noted for its characteristics suitable to the harsh prairie environment.'Lacombe' is 55% Danish Landrace, 22% Chester White, 23% Berkshire.
The'Lacombe' hog was the first livestock breed to be developed in Canada. Beaverlodge and Fort Vermilion Part of the Lacombe Research Centre The Beaverlodge Research Farm and its sub-station Fort Vermilion are part of the Lacombe Research Centre and form the most northern agricultural research establishment in Canada; the Beaverlodge Research Farm specializes in research and development of technology for improved production systems for crops, honey bees and other pollinating insects adapted to environmental conditions in northwestern Canada. Research at the Fort Vermilion site focuses on the adaptation of technologies for this northern agricultural area; the city's Seventh-day Adventist university, Burman University, was established near Lacombe in 1909 and continues to operate today. It and the nearby Hamlet of College Heights were annexed by Lacombe in 2000. Lacombe is home to many public schools within the Wolf Creek Public School Division, including École Secondaire Lacombe Composite High School – a Grade 10-12 school with 800 students that underwent extensive renovations completed in 2009.
Other public schools include École J. S. McCormick School, École Lacombe Upper Elementary School, Terrace Ridge School, École Lacombe Junior High School, Lacombe Outreach School; the city's private schools include Lacombe Christian School, Central Alberta Christia
Transport Canada
Not to be confused with Canadian Transportation Agency. Transport Canada is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations and services of transportation in Canada, it is part of the Transportation and Communities portfolio. The current Minister of Transport is Marc Garneau. Transport Canada is headquartered in Ontario; the Department of Transport was created in 1935 by the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King in recognition of the changing transportation environment in Canada at the time. It merged three departments: the former Department of Railways and Canals, the Department of Marine and Fisheries, the Civil Aviation Branch of the Department of National Defence under C. D. Howe, who would use the portfolio to rationalize the governance and provision of all forms of transportation, he created Trans-Canada Air Lines. The Department of Transport Act came into force November 2, 1936. Prior to a 1994 federal government reorganization, Transport Canada had a wide range of operational responsibilities including the Canadian Coast Guard, the Saint Lawrence Seaway and seaports, as well as Via Rail and CN Rail.
Significant cuts to Transport Canada at that time resulted in CN Rail being privatized, the coast guard being transferred to Fisheries and Oceans, the seaway and various ports and airports being transferred to local operating authorities. Transport Canada emerged from this process as a department focused on policy and regulation rather than transportation operations. In 2004, Transport Canada introduced non-passenger screening to enhance both airport and civil aviation security. Transport Canada's headquarters are located in Ottawa at Place de Ville, Tower C. Transport Canada has regional headquarters in: Vancouver – Government of Canada Building on Burrard Street and Robson Street Edmonton – Canada Place, 9700 Jasper Avenue NW Winnipeg – Macdonald Building, 344 Edmonton Street Toronto – Government of Canada Building, 4900 Yonge Street Dorval – Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport, 700 Place Leigh-Capreol Moncton – Heritage Building, 95 Foundry Street Minister of Transport Marc GarneauDeputy Minister, Transport Canada Michael KeenanAssociate Deputy Minister, Thao Pham Assistant Deputy Minister and Security, Kevin Brousseau Associate Assistant Deputy Minister and Security, Aaron McCrombie Assistant Deputy Minister, Pierre-Marc Mongeau Associate Assistant Deputy Minister and Lead, Navigation Protection Act Review, Catherine Higgens Assistant Deputy Minister, Lawrence Hanson Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services, André Lapointe Assistant Deputy Minister, Natasha Rascanin Director General, Corporate Secretariat, Tom Oommen Director General and Marketing, Dan Dugas Regional Director General, Atlantic Region, Ann Mowatt Regional Director General, Quebec Region, Albert Deschamps Regional Director General, Ontario Region, Tamara Rudge Regional Director General and Northern Region, Michele Taylor Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Robert Dick Departmental General Counsel, Henry K. Schultz Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive, Martin Rubenstein Transport Canada is responsible for enforcing several Canadian legislation, including the Aeronautics Act, Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, Motor Vehicle Safety Act, Canada Transportation Act, Railway Safety Act, Canada Shipping Act, 2001, Marine Transportation Security Act amongst others.
Each inspector with delegated power from the Minister of Transport receives official credentials to exercise their power, as shown on the right. These inspectors are public officers identified within the Criminal Code of Canada; the Motor Vehicle Safety Act was established in 1971 in order to create safety standards for cars in Canada. The department acts as the federal government's funding partner with provincial transport ministries on jointly-funded provincial transportation infrastructure projects for new highways. TC manage a database of traffic collisions in Canada. Transport Canada's role in railways include: railway safety surface and intermodal security strategies for rail travel accessibility safety of federally regulated railway bridges safety and security of international bridges and tunnels Inspecting and testing traffic control signals, grade crossing warning systems rail operating rules regulations and services for safe transport of dangerous goods Canadian Transport Emergency Centre to assist emergency response and handling dangerous goods emergenciesFollowing allegations by shippers of service level deterioration, on April 7, 2008, the federal government of Canada launched a review of railway freight service within the country.
Transport Canada, managing the review, plans to investigate the relationships between Canadian shippers and the rail industry with regards to the two largest railroad companies in the country, Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway. On June 26, 2013, the Fair Rail Freight Service Act became law, a response to the Rail Freight Service Review’s Final Report. Transport Canada is responsible for the waterways inside and surrounding Canada; these responsibilities include: responding and investigating marine accidents within Canadian waters enforcing marine acts and regulations establishing and enforcing marine personnel standards and pilotage Marine Safety Marine Security regulating the operation of marine vessels in Canadian watersAs of 2003 the Office of Boating Safety and the Navigable Waters Protection Program were transferred back to Transport Canada. As was certain regulatory aspects of Emergen
Alberta
Alberta is a western province of Canada. With an estimated population of 4,067,175 as of 2016 census, it is Canada's fourth most populous province and the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces, its area is about 660,000 square kilometres. Alberta and its neighbour Saskatchewan were districts of the Northwest Territories until they were established as provinces on September 1, 1905; the premier has been Rachel Notley since May 2015. Alberta is bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, the U. S. state of Montana to the south. Alberta is one of three Canadian provinces and territories to border only a single U. S. state and one of only two landlocked provinces. It has a predominantly humid continental climate, with stark contrasts over a year. Alberta's capital, Edmonton, is near the geographic centre of the province and is the primary supply and service hub for Canada's crude oil, the Athabasca oil sands and other northern resource industries.
About 290 km south of the capital is the largest city in Alberta. Calgary and Edmonton centre Alberta's two census metropolitan areas, both of which have populations exceeding one million, while the province has 16 census agglomerations. Tourist destinations in the province include Banff, Drumheller, Sylvan Lake and Lake Louise. Alberta is named after the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise was the wife of Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada. Lake Louise and Mount Alberta were named in her honour. Alberta, with an area of 661,848 km2, is the fourth-largest province after Quebec and British Columbia. To the south, the province borders on the 49th parallel north, separating it from the U. S. state of Montana, while to the north the 60th parallel north divides it from the Northwest Territories. To the east, the 110th meridian west separates it from the province of Saskatchewan, while on the west its boundary with British Columbia follows the 120th meridian west south from the Northwest Territories at 60°N until it reaches the Continental Divide at the Rocky Mountains, from that point follows the line of peaks marking the Continental Divide in a southeasterly direction until it reaches the Montana border at 49°N.
The province extends 660 km east to west at its maximum width. Its highest point is 3,747 m at the summit of Mount Columbia in the Rocky Mountains along the southwest border while its lowest point is 152 m on the Slave River in Wood Buffalo National Park in the northeast. With the exception of the semi-arid steppe of the south-eastern section, the province has adequate water resources. There are numerous lakes used for swimming, fishing and a range of water sports. There are three large lakes, Lake Claire in Wood Buffalo National Park, Lesser Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca which lies in both Alberta and Saskatchewan; the longest river in the province is the Athabasca River which travels 1,538 km from the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Athabasca. The largest river is the Peace River with an average flow of 2161 m3/s; the Peace River originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows through northern Alberta and into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River.
Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, is located at about the geographic centre of the province. It is the most northerly major city in Canada, serves as a gateway and hub for resource development in northern Canada; the region, with its proximity to Canada's largest oil fields, has most of western Canada's oil refinery capacity. Calgary is about 280 km south of Edmonton and 240 km north of Montana, surrounded by extensive ranching country. 75% of the province's population lives in the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The land grant policy to the railroads served as a means to populate the province in its early years. Most of the northern half of the province is boreal forest, while the Rocky Mountains along the southwestern boundary are forested; the southern quarter of the province is prairie, ranging from shortgrass prairie in the southeastern corner to mixed grass prairie in an arc to the west and north of it. The central aspen parkland region extending in a broad arc between the prairies and the forests, from Calgary, north to Edmonton, east to Lloydminster, contains the most fertile soil in the province and most of the population.
Much of the unforested part of Alberta is given over either to grain or to dairy farming, with mixed farming more common in the north and centre, while ranching and irrigated agriculture predominate in the south. The Alberta badlands are located in southeastern Alberta, where the Red Deer River crosses the flat prairie and farmland, features deep canyons and striking landforms. Dinosaur Provincial Park, near Brooks, showcases the badlands terrain, desert flora, remnants from Alberta's past when dinosaurs roamed the lush landscape. Alberta has a humid continental climate with cold winters; the province is open to cold arctic weather systems from the north, which produce cold conditions in winter. As the fronts between the air masses shift north and south across Alberta, the temperature can change rapidly. Arctic
Quebec
Quebec is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario and the bodies of water James Bay and Hudson Bay. S. states of Maine, New Hampshire and New York. It shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia. Quebec is Canada's largest province by its second-largest administrative division, it is and politically considered to be part of Central Canada. Quebec is the second-most populous province of Canada, after Ontario, it is the only one to have a predominantly French-speaking population, with French as the sole provincial official language. Most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. Half of Quebec residents live in the Greater Montreal Area, including the Island of Montreal. English-speaking communities and English-language institutions are concentrated in the west of the island of Montreal but are significantly present in the Outaouais, Eastern Townships, Gaspé regions.
The Nord-du-Québec region, occupying the northern half of the province, is sparsely populated and inhabited by Aboriginal peoples. The climate around the major cities is four-seasons continental with cold and snowy winters combined with warm to hot humid summers, but farther north long winter seasons dominate and as a result the northern areas of the province are marked by tundra conditions. In central Quebec, at comparatively southerly latitudes, winters are severe in inland areas. Quebec independence debates have played a large role in the politics of the province. Parti Québécois governments held referendums on sovereignty in 1980 and 1995. Although neither passed, the 1995 referendum saw the highest voter turnout in Quebec history, at over 93%, only failed by less than 1%. In 2006, the House of Commons of Canada passed a symbolic motion recognizing the "Québécois as a nation within a united Canada". While the province's substantial natural resources have long been the mainstay of its economy, sectors of the knowledge economy such as aerospace and communication technologies and the pharmaceutical industry play leading roles.
These many industries have all contributed to helping Quebec become an economically influential province within Canada, second only to Ontario in economic output. The name "Québec", which comes from the Algonquin word kébec meaning "where the river narrows" referred to the area around Quebec City where the Saint Lawrence River narrows to a cliff-lined gap. Early variations in the spelling of the name included Kébec. French explorer Samuel de Champlain chose the name Québec in 1608 for the colonial outpost he would use as the administrative seat for the French colony of New France; the province is sometimes referred to as "La belle province". The Province of Quebec was founded in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 after the Treaty of Paris formally transferred the French colony of Canada to Britain after the Seven Years' War; the proclamation restricted the province to an area along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River. The Quebec Act of 1774 expanded the territory of the province to include the Great Lakes and the Ohio River Valley and south of Rupert's Land, more or less restoring the borders existing under French rule before the Conquest of 1760.
The Treaty of Paris ceded territories south of the Great Lakes to the United States. After the Constitutional Act of 1791, the territory was divided between Lower Canada and Upper Canada, with each being granted an elected legislative assembly. In 1840, these become Canada East and Canada West after the British Parliament unified Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada; this territory was redivided into the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario at Confederation in 1867. Each became one of the first four provinces. In 1870, Canada purchased Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company and over the next few decades the Parliament of Canada transferred to Quebec portions of this territory that would more than triple the size of the province. In 1898, the Canadian Parliament passed the first Quebec Boundary Extension Act that expanded the provincial boundaries northward to include the lands of the local aboriginal peoples; this was followed by the addition of the District of Ungava through the Quebec Boundaries Extension Act of 1912 that added the northernmost lands of the Inuit to create the modern Province of Quebec.
In 1927, the border between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador was established by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Quebec disputes this boundary. Located in the eastern part of Canada, part of Central Canada, Quebec occupies a territory nearly three times the size of France or Texas, most of, sparsely populated, its topography is different from one region to another due to the varying composition of the ground, the climate, the proximity to water. The Saint Lawrence Lowland and the Appalachians are the two main topographic regions in southern Quebec, while the Canadian Shield occupies most of central and northern Quebec. Quebec has one of the world's largest reserves of fresh water, occupying 12% of its surface, it has 3 % of the world's renewable fresh water. Mor
Airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities for commercial air transport. Airports have facilities to store and maintain aircraft, a control tower. An airport consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface such as a runway for a plane to take off or a helipad, includes adjacent utility buildings such as control towers and terminals. Larger airports may have airport aprons, taxiway bridges, air traffic control centres, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, emergency services. In some countries, the US in particular, they typically have one or more fixed-base operators, serving general aviation. An airport serving helicopters is called a heliport. An airport for use by seaplanes and amphibious aircraft is called a seaplane base; such a base includes a stretch of open water for takeoffs and landings, seaplane docks for tying-up. An international airport has additional facilities for customs and passport control as well as incorporating all of the aforementioned elements.
Such airports rank among the most complex and largest of all built typologies with 15 of the top 50 buildings by floor area being airport terminals. The terms aerodrome and airstrip may be used to refer to airports, the terms heliport, seaplane base, STOLport refer to airports dedicated to helicopters, seaplanes, or short take-off and landing aircraft. In colloquial use in certain environments, the terms airport and aerodrome are interchanged. However, in general, the term airport may imply or confer a certain stature upon the aviation facility that other aerodromes may not have achieved. In some jurisdictions, airport is a legal term of art reserved for those aerodromes certified or licensed as airports by the relevant national aviation authority after meeting specified certification criteria or regulatory requirements; that is to say, all airports are aerodromes, but not all aerodromes are airports. In jurisdictions where there is no legal distinction between aerodrome and airport, which term to use in the name of an aerodrome may be a commercial decision.
In United States technical/legal usage, landing area is used instead of aerodrome, airport means "a landing area used by aircraft for receiving or discharging passengers or cargo". Smaller or less-developed airfields, which represent the vast majority have a single runway shorter than 1,000 m. Larger airports for airline flights have paved runways of 2,000 m or longer. Skyline Airport in Inkom, Idaho has a runway, only 122 m long. In the United States, the minimum dimensions for dry, hard landing fields are defined by the FAR Landing And Takeoff Field Lengths; these include considerations for safety margins during takeoff. The longest public-use runway in the world is at Qamdo Bamda Airport in China, it has a length of 5,500 m. The world's widest paved runway is 105 m wide; as of 2009, the CIA stated that there were 44,000 "... airports or airfields recognizable from the air" around the world, including 15,095 in the US, the US having the most in the world. Most of the world's large airports are owned by local, regional, or national government bodies who lease the airport to private corporations who oversee the airport's operation.
For example, in the United Kingdom the state-owned British Airports Authority operated eight of the nation's major commercial airports – it was subsequently privatized in the late 1980s, following its takeover by the Spanish Ferrovial consortium in 2006, has been further divested and downsized to operating just Heathrow now. Germany's Frankfurt Airport is managed by the quasi-private firm Fraport. While in India GMR Group operates, through joint ventures, Indira Gandhi International Airport and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Bengaluru International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport are controlled by GVK Group; the rest of India's airports are managed by the Airports Authority of India. In Pakistan nearly all civilian airports are owned and operated by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority except for Sialkot International Airport which has the distinction of being the first owned public airport in Pakistan and South Asia. In the United States, commercial airports are operated directly by government entities or government-created airport authorities, such as the Los Angeles World Airports authority that oversees several airports in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Los Angeles International Airport.
In Canada, the federal authority, Transport Canada, divested itself of all but the remotest airports in 1999/2000. Now most airports in Canada are owned and operated by individual legal authorities or are municipally owned. Many U. S. airports still lease part or all of their facilities to outside firms, who operate functions such as retail management and parking. In the U. S. all commercial airport runways are certified by the FAA under the Code of Federal Regulations Title 14 Part 139, "Certification of Commercial Service Airports" but maintained by the local airport under the regulatory authority of the FAA. Despite the reluctance to privatize airports in the US, the government-owned, contractor-operated arrangement is the standard for the operation of commercial airports in the rest of the world. Airports are divided into airside areas; the landside area is open to the public, while access to the airside area is controlled. The airside area includes all parts of the airpo
