Fort Langley Airport: the other airport, down by the river

Langley has two airports, and a lot of people only know about one. The busy one is Langley Regional Airport on 216 Street. The other sits down on River Road, east of Fort Langley village, with the Fraser River right beside the runway. It’s private, it’s quiet from the road, and it has had a more interesting life than you’d guess.

From a grass strip in 1959

The operator dates the airport to 1959, when it opened as a grass landing strip. It grew into what’s there now: a long paved runway, hangars, a helipad and a seaplane base with shelters for floatplanes and its own spot on the river.

Where people learned to fly floatplanes

The seaplane base is where the Fort Langley name got known among pilots. A June 1963 Canadian Aviation story, reprinted by the Canadian Museum of Flight, says Skyway Air Services had set up at both Langley Airport and the Fort Langley seaplane base. Skyway did a bit of everything back then: flying lessons, charters, aircraft sales, maintenance, crop spraying and forest fire work.

Jack Meadows’ history of Skyway founder Art Seller, reprinted in the museum’s fall 1997 newsletter, fills in the Fort Langley part. The flying school ran a seaplane training branch here. As the company grew, the spraying and water-bombing side moved to Abbotsford, while the school and the Fort Langley base carried on. Seller sold the Fort Langley operation in 1989.

The museum that almost moved in

In June 1982, the Canadian Museum of Flight and Transportation’s president told members the museum had committed to buying the Fort Langley airstrip and seaplane base. The newsletter described a 49-acre site and put the cost, with first improvements, at about $1 million. The plan included a coffee shop, a clubhouse and more buildings, and the idea was a working airport with room for other transportation collections that could pay its own way.

It didn’t happen. An August 1983 update said there still wasn’t enough money to finish the purchase, and no word had come back on a request for provincial help. The museum stayed in Surrey until 1996, when it moved to Langley Airport. You’ll find it today at the Canadian Museum of Flight on 216 Street.

Fort Langley Air, now Whistler Wings

The name Fort Langley Air belonged to a flying business, not the airport, and that trips people up. In 2019 the company announced new owners and a new main base at Pitt Meadows Airport, keeping its renovated Fort Langley spot as a satellite for some training. Today Whistler Wings Aviation says it is the new name for Fort Langley Air. It traces its roots to the Fort Langley riverfront and the old Skyway floatplane school, and lists bases in Pitt Meadows and Pemberton. If you’re booking a floatplane lesson or a scenic flight, check where it actually leaves from.

Helicopters

Contour Helicopters lists its address as Hangars 6 and 7 at Fort Langley Airport. Its work covers forestry, construction, aerial surveys, filming, wildfire fighting and support for search and rescue and emergency services, plus helicopter maintenance. Its fleet page includes a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk set up for construction and firefighting, along with AS350s and Bell helicopters.

Contour also offers custom helicopter tours, including sightseeing and glacier trips. Call them at 604-343-8885 to ask about dates, prices and where you’d meet.

Lights, camera, runway

Martini Film Studios markets the airport as a filming location. It offers clear-span hangars for building sets indoors, tarmac for outdoor scenes and crew parking, a riverside house, a pier and a floatplane launch. It even says the runway can be closed for a shoot. Martini’s aviation side rents aircraft for on-screen appearances and flying scenes too.

One recent example: on May 28, 2025, the Visual Effects Society held a members-only virtual production stage tour at Fort Langley Airport, Hangar 16, Bay C. The demo was Pixomondo’s PXO AKIRA system, which pairs a car on a motion platform with a robotic camera crane, an LED wall and a racing simulator, so a driving scene can be shot indoors. That was a one-day industry event, not something open to the public. For more about how filming works around here, see filming in Langley.

Can you visit?

Not as a drop-in. It’s a private, gated property. Pilots need the operator’s permission before arriving, and the airport asks them to respect the neighbours and use arrivals and departures to the east when they can. If you have business there, call 604-888-1922 first.

If you want a plane fix today, go to the Canadian Museum of Flight at Langley Regional Airport, which is set up for visitors. Check its hours before you go. Then wander down to Fort Langley village for lunch.

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