Airport guide
Pembroke & Area Airport (CYTA): Petawawa's own airfield, at its true strength
A certified, public airport with a 5,000-foot runway stands inside Petawawa -- named for Pembroke, mailed to Pembroke, seated here. Its work is medivac, military, charter, business and recreational flying. There are no scheduled flights, and this page sells none.
Named for Pembroke, seated in Petawawa: the ruling, with its evidence
Start with the trap, because almost everyone falls into it: the Pembroke & Area Airport (CYTA / YTA) carries Pembroke's name and a Pembroke mailing address -- 176 Len Hopkins Drive, Pembroke, Ontario K8A 6W7 -- but the airfield itself stands in the Town of Petawawa. That is not this guide's inference; it is what the primary surfaces say, three times over. The airport's own operator site, flycyta.ca, describes CYTA as located in Petawawa, about 90 minutes west of Ottawa. The Township of Laurentian Valley's own airport page gives the address and then states, in parentheses, that the airport is physically located in the Town of Petawawa. And the airport's own submission to the federal pre-budget consultations calls it a certified airport located in Petawawa, Ontario. The seat governs, not the name -- so this is Petawawa's airport page, and the airport keeps its real name on it. It is never renamed 'Petawawa Airport' here.
What kind of airport is it? A real one, at a working airfield's strength. The operator calls CYTA the only certified airport between Carp and North Bay, open to the public, operating 24/7 year-round, with terminal facilities. It is owned jointly through the Pembroke and Area Airport Commission by six municipalities -- Laurentian Valley, Petawawa, Pembroke, Deep River, Whitewater Region and Laurentian Hills -- with Garrison Petawawa also at the commission table, on the township's own account. Petawawa itself is a town of 18,160 (Statistics Canada, 2021 Census) in Renfrew County, and the airfield sits at the town's south-eastern edge: from Town Hall it is 4.5 km straight-line (computed), about 6 km by road and 5 minutes' estimated driving. How the distances on this page are made: the origin is the settled Town Hall point, 1111 Victoria Street (45.900528, -77.276632, identity record for this town), and the airport is taken at its own published coordinates (45.864444, -77.251667). The straight-line figure is the great-circle (haversine) distance, computed in this guide's generator; the road estimate multiplies it by 1.35 and the driving time divides by a 62 km/h average, rounded to five minutes. These are planning orders of magnitude -- the day's route is read on the road and on Ontario 511. One road figure is printed from a source instead: the Petawawa Military Family Resource Centre's welcome guide gives Ottawa as 167 km from Garrison Petawawa, and that is the road distance this page quotes for the Ottawa run.
The airfield in numbers
Runway 17/35
A full-length parallel taxiway and a paved apron serve the runway (the airport's own strategic plan and federal submission). The Canada Flight Supplement certifies the runway at AGN IIIB and lights it with ARCAL on 122.8, type K -- pilot-activated lighting, because there is no control tower here. Elevation 532 ft, on the Supplement's entry.
Radio and navigation
The Supplement carries the UNICOM at limited hours, with traffic outside those hours on the same frequency, and the YTA non-directional beacon on 409 kHz nearby. The airport is attended on the Supplement's published pattern (late morning to evening, Monday to Friday, with shorter weekend and holiday hours) -- the day's hours are always read in the current Supplement and NOTAMs, never from a guide.
Who runs it, and how to reach it
The operator's own contact block: main office 613-687-5300, after-hours line 1-855-539-3019, info@flycyta.ca, at 176 Len Hopkins Drive. The Supplement notes that landing fees apply to commercial aircraft and that a call-out charge may be levied for services outside attended hours -- both quoted by the airport, never estimated here.
The traffic it actually carries
Two published counts, printed at their own grades: the airport's 2024 snapshot records approximately 3,200 movements and 22 medivac flights supported that year; the Laurentian Valley page describes over 4,800 movements a year, counting life-saving services, business and tourist flying. Either way, this is a busy working field for its size -- not a sleepy strip, and not a commercial terminal.
What flies here: medivac, military, charter, business and recreational flying
The operator's own summary of its work is medivac services, military exercises, business aviation and recreational flying -- and each of those four is documented, not decorative. Medivac is the airport's public-service core: the federal submission describes the runway as the emergency back-up for local hospitals and part of the region's emergency response plan; the township page puts an air-ambulance need at roughly weekly; the 2024 snapshot counts 22 medivac flights supported. Military use follows from the map: Garrison Petawawa, one of Canada's largest Army garrisons, is the airport's neighbour and a commission member, the field's taxiway system includes a DND loop serving the garrison's airborne embarkation facility (the airport's strategic plan), and the Supplement cautions pilots about parachuting over the aerodrome by NOTAM and extensive low-level military helicopter activity around it.
Charter and business flying is the third leg, and it is charter in the true sense -- aircraft hired for a purpose, not seats sold on a schedule. The 2024 snapshot records Bearskin Airlines continuing charter operations for local schools; the airport's strategic plan documents the same carrier flying school transport for children travelling to specialized schools in Ontario, alongside executive charter and helicopter operators working resource, utility and survey contracts out of the field. Flight training is part of the field's documented life at the same grade: the strategic plan lists Ottawa-area flying clubs and colleges using CYTA for cross-country and circuit training and fuel stops, and airport commission minutes have recorded a training operator offering flight training from the airport. Anyone shopping for lessons should confirm the current operator and programme with the airport itself -- this guide prints no course, fleet or price, because no current primary surface publishes one.
Services on the field: the FBO is the airport itself
There is no separate FBO brand at CYTA: the airport commission is its own fixed-base operator, and its published service list (on flycyta.ca's Airport Services page) is the working list of a full-service small airfield -- an aircraft maintenance engineer and aircraft maintenance, a heated hangar, tie-downs with hydro, a 28-volt ground power unit, deicing, aircraft grooming, catering, terminal building and boardroom rental, leased lots for hangar development, and fuel: 100LL, Jet A-1 and MoGas, plus oil (the Supplement lists the oil grades). Two items on that list matter most to visitors: the airport itself lists taxi service and car rental among its services, arranged through the airport -- which is exactly how ground transport works at an airfield of this size. On prices, the operator's own posture governs this page: it asks users to contact the airport for pricing on its services, so no fuel price, tie-down fee or rental rate is printed here. Any price list a third-party directory shows is a snapshot of unknown age, and this guide does not launder snapshots into facts.
The honest limit: there are no scheduled flights
Read this section before planning anything around this airport: no airline sells a scheduled seat to or from CYTA, and none is published on any primary surface this guide could reach. There is no route map, no timetable, no check-in deadline and no layover product here -- a layover needs a scheduled network to connect through, and CYTA has none. It was not always so: a scheduled Pembroke--Toronto service flew in the Pem-Air era and ended in the early 2000s, which is why older timetables and directory entries still whisper about Toronto flights. They are history, not a booking. If you need a scheduled flight, the airport is Ottawa International (YOW), seated in Ottawa: from Town Hall it is 140.6 km straight-line (computed), about 190 km by road and 185 minutes' estimated driving by this page's computed method, and about 167 km by road on the Petawawa Military Family Resource Centre's published figure. The drive, the Ontario Northland bus to Ottawa, or a charter arranged with an operator are the real ways between Petawawa and a scheduled departure -- in that order of ordinariness.
Completeness, in one paragraph, so nothing is dressed up by omission: Petawawa also holds the Petawawa Heliport (CYWA / YWA), inside Garrison Petawawa -- a Department of National Defence heliport, civil use by prior permission only under the standing DND policy, with no public or commercial service. It is a military facility, mentioned here so the record is complete, and it is never a public airport in this guide. A small registered water aerodrome, Petawawa / Vermette Landing (CVL4) on the Ottawa River, likewise carries no public or commercial service on any surface reached. CYTA is the town's one public airport, at the strength this page prints.
Getting between the airport and the town
By car: Len Hopkins Drive and Highway 17
The airport is reached on Len Hopkins Drive, off the Highway 17 corridor south-east of downtown. Computed from the airport: Petawawa Town Hall is 4.5 km straight-line (computed), about 6 km by road and 5 minutes' estimated driving; Pembroke's centre is 12.1 km straight-line (computed), about 16 km by road and 15 minutes' estimated driving. There is no shuttle bus and no municipal transit to meet flights -- Petawawa has no operating transit system (the Town's own 2026 minutes record transit as a feasibility study at Phase 1), and this page invents none.
By taxi: arranged through the airport, or called directly
The airport lists taxi service among its own services, arranged through the airport office. In town, Petawawa Taxi (3165 Petawawa Boulevard, 613-687-5527) and Ed's Taxi (29 Doran Street, 613-687-6077, whose own listing offers 24-hour local and long-distance service) are the named local operators; both numbers also appear in the Military Family Resource Centre's welcome guide. No fare is printed: no operator publishes a fare table for the airport run, so the price is confirmed when the car is booked, never guessed here.
Car rental, and onward by bus
The airport lists car rental among its services, arranged through the airport -- the practical choice for anyone flying in to tour the Valley or reach Algonquin's east side. For onward public transport, the Ontario Northland bus stops in town on Petawawa Boulevard (3520 Petawawa Boulevard on visitor surfaces) on its Ottawa--North Bay corridor; its current grid lives on ontarionorthland.ca, and the Town's own surfaces are at petawawa.ca.
Sleeping near the field: the Petawawa bed first, Pembroke second
Quality Inn & Suites Petawawa
The chain's own listing places this hotel on Petawawa's main artery, a mile from downtown and close to the garrison gates, with a heated indoor pool and hot tub, a hot breakfast and EV charging among its published features. Computed from the airport, it is 3.2 km straight-line (computed), about 4 km by road and 5 minutes' estimated driving -- the natural first night for a crew or a charter party. Rooms are booked with the hotel: choicehotels.com.
Petawawa River Inn & Suites
The town's second named inn, on the same Boulevard corridor as the Ontario Northland stop -- useful for anyone pairing a charter arrival with a bus departure. Named here at its published address; its rooms, rates and terms live with the inn.
The Pembroke cluster, for a bigger choice
Pembroke, a separate municipality down Highway 17, holds the corridor's larger hotels -- the Best Western Pembroke Inn & Conference Centre at 1 International Drive and the Holiday Inn Express and Comfort Inn on the Pembroke Street East strip. They are Pembroke's beds, about a quarter-hour's drive from the field on this page's computed figures, and the right call when the Petawawa rooms are full or a conference facility is the point.
Practical notes for anyone actually using this airfield. Pilots: the Canada Flight Supplement entry for CYTA and the day's NOTAMs govern -- UNICOM hours are limited, the lighting is pilot-activated on the same frequency, parachuting takes place over the aerodrome by NOTAM, low-level military helicopter activity around the field is extensive, and services outside attended hours can draw a call-out charge and need the after-hours line. Visitors: this is a working airfield, not an attraction -- there is a terminal building with a boardroom the airport rents, and the community's relationship with the field is visible in its Project Runway campaign, which sells a foot of the 5,000-foot runway for $250 toward a repaving fund (the operator's and the township's pages both carry it). Arrive as a user or a guest of one, arrange ground transport before you land, and expect a competent small airfield -- which is exactly what the Ottawa Valley needs it to be.
Common questions
Is there really an airport in Petawawa?
Yes. Pembroke & Area Airport (CYTA / YTA), 176 Len Hopkins Drive, is physically located in the Town of Petawawa -- the operator's own site says so, the Township of Laurentian Valley's page says so in parentheses, and the airport's federal pre-budget submission calls it a certified airport located in Petawawa, Ontario. The name and the mailing address say Pembroke; the ground says Petawawa, and the ground governs.
Can I book a flight to Petawawa?
No scheduled flight exists to book. No airline publishes scheduled service to CYTA on any primary surface reached; the airport's work is medivac, military exercises, business aviation, charter and recreational flying. For a scheduled seat, use Ottawa International (YOW) -- about 167 km by road -- and cover the last leg by road, by the Ontario Northland bus, or by a charter you arrange with an operator.
What is the runway like, and can a business jet use it?
Runway 17/35 is 5,000 by 100 feet of asphalt, certified AGN IIIB in the Canada Flight Supplement, with a full-length parallel taxiway and paved apron. The airport is the only certified airport between Carp and North Bay on the operator's own account, and its strategic plan describes it as capable of handling regional and business aircraft. Specific aircraft acceptance is confirmed with the airport (613-687-5300) -- a guide prints the field, the operator clears the flight.
How do I get from the airport into Petawawa or Pembroke?
By road: the airport is on Len Hopkins Drive at Petawawa's south-eastern edge -- about 4.5 km straight-line from Town Hall (computed) and about 12 km straight-line from Pembroke's centre (computed). The airport itself lists taxi service and car rental among its services, arranged through the airport; in town, Petawawa Taxi is 613-687-5527 and Ed's Taxi is 613-687-6077. There is no shuttle and no municipal transit. No fare is published by any operator, so the price is confirmed at booking.
Is the garrison heliport a second public airport?
No. Petawawa Heliport (CYWA / YWA) sits inside Garrison Petawawa and is a Department of National Defence facility: civil use is by prior permission only, and no public or commercial service operates from it. It is named on this page for completeness only. CYTA is Petawawa's one public airport.
Is there flight training at CYTA?
Flight training is part of the field's documented life: the airport's own strategic plan lists Ottawa-area flying clubs and colleges using CYTA for cross-country and circuit training, and airport commission minutes have recorded a training operator offering instruction from the field. No current course, fleet or price is published on a primary surface reached, so confirm the present operator and programme with the airport before planning lessons around it.
More to explore in Petawawa
The header image on this page is an illustration drawn for Dayfari, not a photograph. No verified photograph of the Pembroke & Area Airport (licence and subject checked) could be attested for this version, so the airport is illustrated here and described in text; a real photo of the actual airfield is owed at the deploy pass (see the inventory note for this page).
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