Ottawa Airport (YOW) Information

Where is Ottawa Airport?  

Canada's capital city, Ottawa, is located on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River, opposite Gatineau, Quebec. 

Ottawa's Rideau Canal is North America's oldest continuously operated canal system, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In winter, it freezes over and forms the world's largest skating rink, and is actually used as a 7.8 kilometre (4.8 miles) transportation path downtown.

Ottawa International Airport (IATA: YOW, ICAO: CYOW), officially Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport or Macdonald-Cartier Airport, commonly referred to as simply Ottawa Airport, is located in Riverside South, just south of downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The airport is named after Sirs John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier, the country's first Prime Minister and Father of Confederation respectively.

In 2011, Ottawa Airport served 4,624,626 passengers, making it Canada's 6th busiest airport. YOW Airport has United States border preclearance facilities. 

Ottawa Airport is part of Canada's busiest air corridor between Ottawa, Montreal Trudeau Airport (YUL), and Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ), commonly referred to as the Eastern Triangle. Ottawa Airport is also a gateway for flights to the eastern Arctic via Iqaluit Airport (YFB).

Other destinations served by YOW include Boston, Calgary, Cancún, Charlotte, Charlottetown, Chicago, Detroit, Edmonton, Fort Lauderdale, Frankfurt, Fredericton, Halifax, Las Vegas, London (ON), London (UK), Los Cabos, Montego Bay, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Quebec City, Regina, Santa Clara, Saskatoon, St. John's, Vancouver, Varadero, Washington DC and Winnipeg, to name just a few.

Airlines that fly to Ottawa Airport include Air Canada, Air Transat, American Eagle, Bearskin Airlines, Canadian North, CanJet, Delta Connection, First Air, Porter Airlines, Sunwing Airlines, United Express, US Airways and WestJet.

In 2011, Ottawa Airport was named Best Airport in North America in the Airport Service Quality Awards by Airports Council International. YOW was also named 2nd Best Airport by Size in the 2 to 5 million passenger category.

Your best bet for an Ottawa Airport transfer is the bus. Details on all options are included in this guide.

The Ottawa Airport is notorious for losing checked bags or for bags not accompanying your flight (personal experience from a few IHT Team members). It is recommended you bring a change of clothes with you on the plane just in case.

If you are transiting to the United States from another city in Canada via Ottawa be very careful of your checked luggage as it will not be automatically transferred to your US destination. This is despite contradictionary advice given by airline agents. You NEED to pick-up your luggage at the carousel belt in Ottawa and re-check your luggage otherwise your bag will remain in Ottawa. There is no real logic to why this process in in place other than lack of resources available at the Ottawa Airport to simply transfer your bags for you.

• Official Ottawa YOW Ottawa International Airport Website    

• Read YOW Ottawa Airport Tweets