<p> Welcome to Chris Hadfield Airport, formerly known as Sarnia Airport and known around the world in the aviation industry as CYZR.
<p> This airport was developed in the late 1950's by local businessmen, three major corporations with large operations in Sarnia and support from the City of Sarnia.
<p> The airport is located on the flat terrain left over from a former lake bed from many thousands of years ago. The elevation in this area is 181 meters/595 feet, if you wish to check the elevation reading of your GPS. Those figures are the published elevation of the airport so this is likely quite close to the reading for this elevation as well.
<p> The airport is owned by the City of Sarnia and is operated by a local aviation service located on the premises. Commercial air service is available to Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario on a scheduled air carrier. [NOTE, commercial air service is no longer available from Sarnia.] A flight training school, sight seeing flights, fuel, parking and aircraft hangers are located at the airport.
<p> Sarnia Airport was renamed for local area native Chris Hadfield in 1997. Chris later served as commander of the International Space Station. One thing that most people do not know is that Chris's father, Roger Hadfield, served as a flight instructor here and later flew for one of Canada's major airlines so the Hadfield's have been associated with the airport basically since its early beginnings.
<p> The major runway here is oriented in a NW/SE direction and is 5106 feet in length. This runway is equipped to allow aircraft to operate in most weather conditions. Originally built in 1956 the runway was a grass strip and was turned into a hard surface runway in 1958. It was at this time that three major industrial operations in the area and the City of Sarnia financed the major upgrade. The three major corporations had been using an airport in St. Clair County, Michigan to transport people to Sarnia before entering into a partnership to upgrade the Sarnia airport with the three corporations matching $150,000 provided by the city to upgrade the airport.
<p> The first commercial flight from the airport took place on December 1st, 1958, to London and Toronto. Later the entrepreners gave up their operating licence so that Nordair (which became a major carrier later) could operate into Sarnia. The original operators of the service remained to provide the necessary ground services.
<p> Later, Great Lakes Airlines was formed by John Blunt. This carrier became Air Ontario Limied in 1983 and in June 1987 it was merged with Austin Airways of Timmins by Jim Plaxton of London to become Air Ontario Inc. The Austins have a very long heritage in the airline and associated other businesses in northern Ontario for many decades. Air Ontario no longer operates into the airport but commercial air service is available.