Meander River Airport

The primary reason for closure was obsolescence and replacement. A new, superior airport (IATA: YXJ, ICAO: CYXJ) was constructed nearby to better serve the community. The old airport, with its short, 3000-foot gravel runway, was inadequate for providing reliable, all-weather service for the types of aircraft required for modern medevac and charter operations. The new airport features a longer, paved runway, making it a safer and more capable facility.

The site of the former airport is now an abandoned and overgrown field. Satellite imagery of the coordinates clearly shows the faint outline of the former runway (oriented 10/28), but it is unmaintained, covered in grass and shrubs, and completely unusable for any aviation purposes. There is no remaining infrastructure on the site. All regional air traffic now utilizes the new Meander River Airport (CYXJ).

The original Meander River Airport (Transport Canada Identifier: CFP7) was a crucial lifeline for the remote community of Meander River, Alberta, which is home to the Dene Tha' First Nation. As a basic gravel airstrip, it provided essential air access for medical evacuations, charter flights carrying supplies and personnel for local industries like forestry and oil/gas exploration, government services, and bush pilots. For many years, it was the primary link connecting the isolated community to larger centers like High Level, Alberta.

There are no plans or prospects for reopening this airport. Its role has been entirely superseded by the modern, operational Meander River Airport (CYXJ). Reopening an old, inferior airstrip when a better facility exists just a few kilometers away would be economically and logistically impractical. The site will likely remain abandoned.