<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3 text-lg-center">History Thunder Bay International Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para">It was built as the Fort William Municipal Airport in 1938, partly as a means of relieving unemployment.</p>
<p class="blog-para">During World War II, the Thunder Bay (then Fort William) airport was home to No. 2 Elementary Flying Training School, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The airport was also used as a base for test flights of fighter aircraft being built at the nearby Canadian Car and Foundry factory.</p>
<p class="blog-para">Before the two cities of Fort William and Port Arthur merged, it was called the Canadian Lakehead Airport.</p>
<p class="blog-para">The airport went under major renovations in 1994 with the construction of a new airport terminal building, including two jetways, a large food court, a gift shop and an arcade.</p>
<p class="blog-para">The airport was handed over from the government in 1997 to the Thunder Bay International Airports Authority, a non-profit organization. The airport handled over 600,000 passengers in 2006 for the first time since 2001</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Historical airline jet service Thunder Bay International Airport</strong></p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>A number of airlines served the airport with scheduled passenger jet service in the past from the late 1960s to the early 2000s. These air carriers along with the respective jetliner types they operated from the airfield are as follows:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li class="blog-li">Air Canada (mainline service): Airbus A319, Boeing 727-200, McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30</li>
<li class="blog-li">Air Ontario: Fokker F28</li>
<li class="blog-li">Canadian Airlines International:Boeing 737-200</li>
<li class="blog-li">Canadian Regional Airlines: Fokker F28</li>
<li class="blog-li">CanJet: Boeing 737-200</li>
<li class="blog-li">Jetsgo:Fokker 100, McDonnell Douglas MD-80</li>
<li class="blog-li">Nordair: Boeing 737-200</li>
<li class="blog-li">North Central Airlines: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30</li>
<li class="blog-li">Pacific Western Airlines: Boeing 737-200</li>
<li class="blog-li">Republic Airlines (1979-1986):] McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30</li>
<li class="blog-li">Transair (Canada):Boeing 737-200, Fokker F28</li>
<li class="blog-li">Vistajet:Boeing 737-200</li>
</ul>
<p class="blog-para">According to various Official Airline Guide (OAG) editions as well as airline timetables, the majority of jet service operated by Canadian-based air carriers was nonstop or direct to Toronto and Winnipeg. U.S.-based North Central Airlines operated nonstop flights to Duluth with continuing no change of plane jet service to Chicago&ndash;O'Hare while successor Republic Airlines also flew nonstop to Duluth with continuing no change of plane jet service to Minneapolis/St. Paul and then on to Denver.</p>
<p class="blog-para">During the mid-1980s, three airlines were competing with nonstop service operated with mainline jet aircraft between Thunder Bay and Toronto: Air Canada with Boeing 727-200 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 aircraft, Nordair with Boeing 737-200 aircraft and Pacific Western Airlines with Boeing 737-200 aircraft.</p>
<p><img class="img-fluid p-lg-0 rounded w-100" title="History Thunder Bay International Airport" src="../../../main/img/airport/thun/33.webp" alt="History Thunder Bay International Airport"></p>