Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport

The airport was established in 1939, a year after the closure of the Aérodrome Saint-Louis. Established as a training facility for air observers, the first flight occurred on September 11, 1941. First known as the Aéroport de l'Ancienne Lorette, then the Aéroport de Sainte-Foy, and later the Aéroport de Québec, it was renamed to Aéroport international Jean-Lesage in 1993, in honour of Jean Lesage, the former Premier of Quebec. The airport is managed and operated by Aéroport de Québec inc., a non-profit and non-share corporation.

Beginning in 2006, with a budget of $65.8 million, Québec/Jean Lesage International Airport underwent a modernization designed to increase the terminal's capacity and substantially enhance the level of passenger service. The modernization included reconfiguring the terminal on two levels, restructuring the baggage handling area and arrivals area, and reconfiguring and enlargement of the waiting rooms. Fifty-four percent of the financing was provided directly by Aéroport de Québec inc. Completed in June 2008, the new configuration of the airport enabled it to handle 1.4 million passengers a year.

Based on the passenger figures for 2009 and 2010, it became clear that the terminal building would reach its design capacity by 2012. Aéroport de Québec inc. therefore began planning further investments of nearly $300 million to expand the terminal building again. On July 4, 2011, work began on the second phase of the airport expansion, which lasted until 2017. Partially funded through an Airport Improvement Fee, the terminal building was doubled in size, at a cost of $224.8 million. The work included expanding the international facilities, redoing runways, changing and upgrading the layout of the taxiways, and enhancing customer service facilities.

On September 19, 2013, because of earth magnetic north pole drift, runway 12/30 was renamed to runway 11/29.

On 10 March 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Barack Obama announced the addition of the airport to the list of Canadian airports containing U.S. border preclearance facilities. In 2019, Trudeau and President Donald Trump also announced that the airport would obtain border preclearance. However, as of March 2024, preclearance is not yet available.

On December 11, 2017, the first phase of YQB2018, the expansion project, was completed with the opening of the new international terminal. Features included more dedicated baggage carousels serving international flights, a new customs area, an expanded food court and restaurant area, four new gates (34 to 37), an improved and larger loading area for cars and buses, and a larger capacity baggage area.

The last expansion phase, which involved linking the domestic and international terminals, was completed in the summer of 2019.

Facilities

Quebec Jean-Lesage International Airport has two runways, 06/24 and 11/29, served by seven taxiways. Runway 06/24 is the main and longest runway measuring 9000' by 150'. The secondary runway 11/29 is 5700' by 150'. The airport has three aprons; Apron 1 and Apron 2 serve the main terminal and Apron 3 caters to general aviation with its varied FBOs, charter companies, flight schools and maintenance facilities.

The main terminal has 17 gates numbered 20 to 37, 12 of which have a jet-bridge. CYQB is designated as an Airport of Entry by the Canadian Border Services Agency and has full customs services for international travellers.

Two governmental entities are also based on the field, the Canadian Coast Guard has a helicopter base and Quebec's Service Aerien Gouvernemental which, in addition to specialized medevac aircraft, operates one of the largest Canadair water bomber fleet worldwide.

Premier Aviation operates a 60,000 square-foot heavy maintenance facility on the northeast side of the airport servicing the ATRs, Embraer ERJ family and de Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft types from national and international customers such as Calm Air and United Express.

Accidents and incidents

On 9 September 1949, Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108 on a flight from Montreal to Baie-Comeau with a stopover in Quebec City crash-landed east of Quebec City when a bomb exploded on board shortly after departing from Quebec City Jean Lesage Airport (then known as L'Ancienne-Lorette Airport), killing all 19 passengers and four crew. The incident and trial that followed would be known as the Albert Guay Affair.

On 29 March 1979, Quebecair Flight 255, a Fairchild F-27, crashed after take-off, killing 17 and injuring seven.

On 23 June 2010, a Beechcraft A100 King Air of Aeropro (registration C-FGIN) crashed north of the airport just after taking off from runway 30 (now runway 29), killing all seven people on board.

On 12 October 2017, a drone collided with a passenger plane for the first time in North America. The drone struck the turboprop passenger plane operated by Skyjet Aviation while it was on approach. The drone was operating above the 90 m (300 ft) flight height restriction and within the 5 km (3.1 mi) exclusion zone around airports, violating drone operating regulations.

On 1 August 2023, a Cessna 152 (C-FNBP) operated by Orizon Aviation Québec Inc. crashed in an almost-vertical, nose-down attitude onto a grassy area near Runway 24 at Québec/Jean Lesage International Airport following a bounced landing and unsuccessful go-around during a student pilot’s first solo flight, resulting in serious injuries.