Fort Assiniboine Airport

While no single event is cited, the closure is almost certainly due to economic and operational factors common to small, rural airports. These reasons typically include:
1. **Low Traffic Volume:** Insufficient use by aircraft to justify the costs of operation.
2. **High Maintenance Costs:** The expense of maintaining the runway, facilities, and insurance became prohibitive for the owner or local municipality.
3. **Lack of Funding:** As a small, unregistered aerodrome, it likely did not qualify for significant government funding, relying on private or limited local support.
4. **Liability Concerns:** The increasing liability and insurance costs associated with operating an airfield.

The airport is permanently closed to public air traffic. Satellite imagery of the coordinates (54.335698, -114.71706) shows that the physical runway outline is still clearly visible as a grass/dirt strip. The land appears to be privately owned and is adjacent to a property used for agricultural or light industrial purposes, with equipment stored nearby. A windsock is still present on the site, which may suggest very limited, private, or agricultural aviation use (e.g., crop dusters), but it is not an officially recognized or maintained airfield. The site is effectively a private land parcel with the remnant of an airstrip.

Fort Assiniboine Airport was a local, general aviation aerodrome that served the Hamlet of Fort Assiniboine and the surrounding Woodlands County. It was not a major commercial airport but played a supporting role for the region. Its operations included:
- **General Aviation:** Used by private pilots for recreational flying and personal transport.
- **Support for Local Industry:** Facilitated access to the region for businesses involved in Alberta's key industries, such as oil and gas exploration, forestry, and agriculture.
- **Emergency Services:** Potentially served as a landing spot for air ambulances or as a staging area for aircraft involved in fighting wildfires, a common function for such strips in forested areas.
The airport consisted of a single turf/gravel runway, estimated to be around 2,600 feet long, making it suitable for most light single-engine aircraft (e.g., Cessna, Piper) and some STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft.

There are no known or published plans to reopen or re-certify Fort Assiniboine Airport. The economic and logistical challenges that led to its closure likely still exist. For a small community, the cost of bringing an airport up to modern standards, insuring it, and maintaining it is substantial. Without a significant new economic driver in the immediate area requiring air access, the prospects for its reopening are considered extremely low to non-existent.