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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport

International airport serving Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ1319833 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ottawa/Macdonald–Cartier International Airport (IATA: YOW, ICAO: CYOW) or simply Ottawa International Airport is the main international airport serving the National Capital Region of Canada which contains the cities of Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec. Located 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) south of downtown Ottawa in the south end of the city, it is Canada's sixth-busiest airport, Ontario's second-busiest airport by airline passenger traffic, with 4,866,236 passengers in 2025. The airport is a major hub for Porter Airlines, a focus city for Air Canada and Air Transat and a home base for Canadian North (formerly First Air). The airport is named after the Canadian statesmen and two of the "founding fathers of Canada", Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier.

It is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada, and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency, it is one of nine Canadian airports that contain U.S border preclearance facilities. The airport was formerly a military base known as CFB Ottawa South/CFB Uplands, and is still home to the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) 412 Transport Squadron, which provides air transport for Canadian and foreign government officials.

History

On July 2, 1927, twelve P-1 aeroplanes under the command of Major Thomas G. Lanphier, Air Corps, proceeded from Selfridge Field to Ottawa, acting as Special Escort for Colonel Charles Lindbergh, who was to attend at the opening of the Dominion Jubilee. First Lieutenant J. Thad Johnson, Air Corps, commanding 27th Pursuit Squadron, was killed in an unsuccessful parachute jump after a collision with another plane of formation in a demonstration on arrival over Ottawa. There is now a street leading to the airport industrial section named after the aviator.

The airport was opened at Uplands on a high plateau (then) south of Ottawa by the Ottawa Flying Club, which still operates from the field.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport” as international airport serving Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ottawa, Macdonald and Cartier.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2025, 1927—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Ottawa, Macdonald and Cartier providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport”, the useful work is to connect “international airport serving Ottawa, Ontario, Canada” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1319833. VIAF identifies the subject as 138322351. The Library of Congress control number is no2018137338. Authority coordinates are 45.322, -75.667. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025 and 1927.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport primary sources, Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport archive and Ottawa research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.