Nordegg River Airport

The airport was officially decommissioned by its operator, Clearwater County. The decision, formalized in a May 2013 council meeting, was based on economic factors. Key reasons included high maintenance costs for a facility in a state of disrepair (estimated at $25,000-$30,000 for immediate repairs plus $5,000 in annual upkeep), very low usage primarily by recreational pilots, and significant liability concerns for the county.

The airport is permanently closed and abandoned. The physical runway structure is still visible in satellite imagery but is unmaintained, overgrown with vegetation, and is being reclaimed by the surrounding environment. Standard visual markers for a closed runway (large 'X's) were placed on the thresholds following its decommissioning, though these have since faded. The site is not used for any formal purpose and is inaccessible as an active airfield.

Nordegg River Airport, officially known by the identifier CFQ6 in the Canada Flight Supplement, was a public-use general aviation aerodrome serving the historic coal-mining hamlet of Nordegg and the surrounding Bighorn Backcountry in Alberta. It featured a single gravel runway (01/19) approximately 3,000 feet long. The airport's primary role was supporting recreational aviation, providing pilots with access to the scenic eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies for tourism and leisure. It also served as a potential landing site for government services, such as air ambulance, RCMP, or forestry aircraft involved in fire suppression activities in the remote region.

There are no known plans or prospects to reopen the Nordegg River Airport. The economic and liability issues that led to its closure in 2013 remain significant barriers. Reopening the facility would require a substantial capital investment to restore the runway and infrastructure to a safe and certifiable standard, and there has been no indication of political or community will to undertake such a project given the historically low demand.