Old Crow, Yukon

Location Overview
Old Crow Airport is a public-use gravel airstrip situated at 67°34′N 139°50′W, at an elevation of approximately 821 feet above sea level, serving the remote community of Old Crow on the banks of the Porcupine River. As the northernmost community in Yukon, Old Crow is home to the Vuntut Gwich'in First Nation and remains inaccessible by road year-round, making the airport the sole point of entry and exit for its roughly 250 residents. The airport is owned and operated by the Yukon government and is classified as an official airport of entry by Nav Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency.

Camping & Recreation
There are no campgrounds or recreational facilities at the airport itself, and services in the terminal are extremely basic — no food, no ATMs, no rental cars or taxis. The village of Old Crow, about 50 kilometres from Vuntut National Park's southern edge, offers visitors a rare immersion into authentic northern living and Vuntut Gwich'in culture, with log cabins, smokehouses adorned with caribou antlers, and the John Tizya Centre showcasing the area's natural and cultural history. Some local residents offer tours, hikes, and accommodations that can be booked in advance. Nearby Vuntut National Park — meaning "among the lakes" in Gwich'in — encompasses 4,345 square kilometres of wilderness and offers canoeing on the Old Crow River, backcountry hiking, and winter ski trips, though visitors must be entirely self-sufficient as there are no facilities or developed trails.

Notes & Warnings
The gravel runway measures 5,022 ft × 100 ft (1,531 m × 30 m) and can handle general aviation aircraft only, with a maximum of 15 passengers. Both 100LL avgas and Jet A fuel are available on site. The magnetic variation is approximately 29°E, which pilots should account for during navigation. Permafrost thaw in the surrounding floodplain causes ongoing subsidence risks and complicates gravel maintenance, requiring active geotechnical monitoring. Arctic weather can change rapidly, and pilots should check current METARs and NOTAMs carefully before departure. Pilots planning to land within the Declared Wilderness Area of adjacent Vuntut National Park must complete a Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment (YESAA) — a process that can take 6 to 12 weeks — before a landing permit will be issued.

History
Aviation in Old Crow began with informal landings on gravel bars along the Porcupine River. In November 1960, a Douglas DC-3 operated by Great Northern Airways achieved the first landing of a large aircraft there, marking a shift away from single-engine charters. The formal airport was completed in 1970, enabling scheduled services that have since been operated by various carriers. The airport's roots also trace back to World War II, when it was part of the Northwest Staging Route — a chain of airfields used to ferry thousands of aircraft from the United States to Alaska and onward to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program. After the war, its military significance faded, but it grew in civilian importance as the community's only reliable connection to the outside world. More recently, a 2019 runway resurfacing was completed as part of broader investments in the Yukon Aviation System, with ongoing work to address aging infrastructure and the challenges posed by permafrost thaw.