NoneCA 🇨🇦 Closed Airport
CA-0131
-
- ft
CA-ON
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: 46.25° N, -81.849998° E
Continent: NA
Type: Closed Airport
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Circa early 2000s (approximately 2002-2003). The airport was officially removed from the Canadian Flight Supplement (CFS) around this time, indicating it was no longer registered or operational.
Primarily economic and operational redundancy. The airport was a private airstrip owned and operated by the adjacent pulp and paper mill (historically E.B. Eddy Forest Products, later Domtar). The closure was likely due to a combination of factors: the high cost of maintaining a private airfield, changing corporate travel patterns, and the availability of the nearby public Espanola Municipal Airport (CYAR), which could accommodate charter flights for the company.
The airport is permanently closed and abandoned. Satellite imagery of the coordinates shows the faint outline of the north-south runway is still visible but it is heavily overgrown and unmaintained. The land appears to have been repurposed for industrial storage by the adjacent mill, with large piles of wood chips or other materials often visible on or near the former runway. The entire site is part of the Domtar industrial complex, which itself was indefinitely idled in late 2023, leaving the future use of the land uncertain.
The airport's significance was entirely tied to the large pulp and paper mill it served. It was a private (PPR - Prior Permission Required) aerodrome used for corporate and industrial purposes. Operations primarily consisted of transporting company executives, moving time-sensitive, critical machine parts, and potentially supporting the company's forestry operations in the region. The runway was an unpaved gravel/turf strip, suitable for smaller propeller-driven aircraft and some STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) corporate planes. It played no role in public transport or military operations.
There are no known plans or prospects for reopening. The reopening is considered extremely unlikely for several key reasons: 1) The primary user, the Domtar paper mill, has ceased operations. 2) The town of Espanola is adequately served by the publicly owned and maintained Espanola Municipal Airport (CYAR). 3) The land is private industrial property and would require significant investment to restore to aviation standards.