Airport history

1920

The first airplanes to reach the Yukon were 4 United States Army Air Corps flying from New York to Nome, landing in Whitehorse in 1920 on a cleared woodlot, which is now the site of the airport. In 1927 the Queen of the Yukon ‒ a sister craft to Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis ‒ was the first commercial airplane to fly in the Yukon. 
 

1938

By this time, the Yukon had 4 airlines offering regular service through Whitehorse.
 

1943

The United States Army took over airport construction in Whitehorse. In a single short building season, they constructed a concrete runway 2,195 metres (7,200 feet) long by 46 metres (150 feet) wide, additional taxiways, aprons, hangars and other buildings. The following year, the Department of Transport and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) created additional facilities.
 

1985

40 years later, we constructed the present passenger terminal and added a major expansion in 2011.
 

2009

We renamed the airport the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport in recognition of the contribution Erik Nielsen made to the North and to Canada. He was an RCAF pilot during the Second World War, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and continued to fly throughout his life. He was the Yukon’s longest standing Member of Parliament and represented the Yukon from 1957 to 1987.