Dease Lake, CA 🇨🇦 Closed Airport
ICAO
CA-0546
IATA
-
Elevation
2470 ft
Region
CA-BC
Local Time
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: 58.459° N, -130.038° E
Continent: North America
Type: Closed Airport
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The exact date of closure is not officially documented. However, the designation CA-0546 was likely removed from official Canadian aviation publications, such as the Water Aerodrome Supplement (WAS), in the early to mid-2000s. This type of delisting often occurred during administrative updates or when the primary operator ceased requiring the official registration, possibly around 2005, coinciding with the acquisition of the local charter company BCYukon Air by Northern Thunderbird Air.
The closure was administrative rather than physical. The most likely reason is that the seaplane base was a privately registered location for a specific air charter company. When that company was sold or consolidated its operations, the need for the official registration lapsed. The existence of the nearby all-weather Dease Lake Airport (CYDL), with a 6,000-foot paved runway, likely reduced the necessity for maintaining a separate, formally registered seaplane base, as it could handle the bulk of the region's transportation needs.
The registered seaplane base 'CA-0546' no longer exists. However, the physical site is the body of water of Dease Lake itself. The lake remains a viable and legally usable landing area for float-equipped aircraft, subject to standard Canadian aviation regulations for operating at an unregistered aerodrome. The shoreline at the coordinates, adjacent to the town of Dease Lake, features private and public docks and is used for general boating and recreation. It is highly probable that private and charter floatplanes continue to use the lake on an ad-hoc basis to serve local needs.
Dease Lake has historically been a critical transportation hub for the remote Stikine Region of northern British Columbia. Before reliable road access, and even after, the lake served as a natural runway for floatplanes. The seaplane base was vital for the region's primary industries: mining exploration, forestry services, and tourism (servicing remote fishing and hunting lodges). It would have been a bustling point of activity for iconic Canadian bush planes like the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, DHC-3 Otter, and various Cessna aircraft on floats. These operations provided an essential lifeline, moving personnel, supplies, and equipment into the vast, otherwise inaccessible wilderness of the Cassiar Mountains.
There are no known public plans or prospects for officially reopening or re-registering a seaplane base on Dease Lake under the ICAO code CA-0546 or any other designation. Given that floatplanes can still legally operate on the lake without a formal registration and the community is well-served by the land-based Dease Lake Airport (CYDL), there is little practical or economic incentive for a new formal registration unless a significant new commercial operation were to require it.