Ottawa / Rockcliffe Airport (YRO)

Ottawa / Rockcliffe Airport stands as Canada's oldest active airport, officially recognized in August 2018 on its centennial anniversary when the Royal Air Force first used this field for experimental mail flights in 1918, launching a century of Canadian aviation history. Located on the scenic Ottawa River's south shore just 4 nautical miles northeast of Parliament Hill, this historic facility opened officially in 1920 as Ottawa Air Station—one of six original airfields established by Canada's new Air Board—and evolved to host up to 16 RCAF squadrons simultaneously, more than any other Canadian air station.

The airport features unique dual-capability infrastructure with both certified paved land aerodrome and water aerodrome operations, connected by dedicated roads allowing seamless floatplane transfers between runways and the Ottawa River—one of very few airports worldwide with this capability. Now owned by the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and operated by the Rockcliffe Flying Club, facilities include two IFR approaches, multiple runways supporting general aviation, and the RCMP's continuing operational presence maintaining the tradition established when their air division formed here in 1937.

Operational characteristics center on serving Canada's capital region with corporate aviation, flight training, recreational flying, and government operations, while the on-site Canada Aviation and Space Museum preserves the nation's aerospace heritage including artifacts from the 1945 first jet aircraft demonstration in Canada held at this field. The facility witnessed pivotal moments including WWI ace William George Barker's fatal 1930 crash during an aerial demonstration, Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh's 1931 northern surveying visit, and pioneering 1920 experiments in aerial photography that revolutionized Canadian mapping.

Strategic importance encompasses maintaining living aviation heritage at Canada's birthplace of military and civilian flying, supporting capital region access for business and government aviation just minutes from downtown Ottawa, preserving unique land-water aircraft capabilities essential for northern Ontario's float-dependent communities, and continuing the legacy of a field that trained thousands of Commonwealth pilots during WWII while pioneering Canadian aviation from mail delivery to jet propulsion across its remarkable century of continuous operation.