In 1941 the United States obtained rights to construct a United States Army Air Forces base in the St. George's Bay area of Newfoundland. The U.S. 76th Congress approved the 99-year lease and in April 1941, construction began. The USAAF base was built as Stephenville Air Base. However, after the USAAF became the United States Air Force in 1947, it was renamed Ernest Harmon Air Force Base on June 23, 1948, in honour of Captain Ernest Emery Harmon. Harmon was a US Army Air Corpsace who was killed in an air crash in 1933. On September 1, 1943, the Newfoundland Base Command transferred control of Harmon Field to the North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command. The base became a part of the Northeast Air Command in October, 1950. Then in April 1957, the Strategic Air Command assumed control. The mandate of the base was to maintain a tanker alert force and its capability to meet and refuel Strategic Air Command jet bombers en route to targets. The Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter was employed in this task. The base was also used as a refueling stop for transatlantic military flights. In addition, Harmon supported three Air Defense Command units. In 1957, the Canadian Department of Transportation constructed an airport terminal to accommodate Trans-Canada Air Lines. 1966 saw the closure of the U.S. Air Force Base in Stephenville. The airport is now owned and operated by the local airport authority, the Stephenville Airport Corporation Inc. Stephenville Airport was designated as an alternate in the Trans Oceanic Plane Stop program on 23 July 1970. Since the late 1990s, Stephenville has been designated as one of five Canadian airports suitable as an emergency landing site for the Space Shuttle. The Stephenville Airport was the major passenger airport for all of western Newfoundland until the early 1990s when provincial government decided to direct more traffic to the Deer Lake Regional Airport. All major carriers used Stephenville such as Air Canada, Eastern Provincial Airways and Canadian Airlines. In 1970 the airport was designated by international scheduled air transport and for international general aviation regular use. On February 1, 2018, the Canada Flight Supplement indicated that runway 02/20, which was long, had been closed.
Development plans
The Newfoundland and Labrador government's plan, called "Taking Flight", aims to enhance air travel in the province by working closely with airports and airlines. For the airlines, if they create a new route, the government can fund the new route up to $750,000 to help promote it. On April 23, 2014, Porter Airlines announced it would operate a seasonal summer service to Halifax Stanfield International Airport between June 28 and August 31, 2014. In September 2019, PAL Airlines announced that they have given the mandatory notice to the airport authority stating their intent to end operations at Stephenville Airport in January 2020, thus ending all scheduled yearly operations in Stephenville. As of February 2020, there are no plans for Sunwing Airlines to return to Stephenville.
On September 11, 2001, eight civilian airliners made unscheduled landings at the Stephenville Airport following the closure of North American airspace in the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC. As a participant in Operation Yellow Ribbon, the town managed to host nearly 3,000 stranded passengers for approximately one week.
Lav, water, ground power, stairs, air start and ground handling equipment available to service aircraft up to a Boeing 747
Alternate space shuttle landing site
Stephenville Airport was one of five sites along eastern North America designated as an alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle orbiter during its launches and landings. As of 2011 Space Shuttles are no longer in service.
