Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport

Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (CYOW) is a large airport in Ottawa, ON, Canada. Pilots and dispatchers reference it by ICAO code CYOW or IATA code YOW. It sits in North America.

Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport is a commercial-airline hub that also handles a steady stream of private and corporate traffic. Mixed commercial and private operations mean planners should expect slot coordination, handling agent involvement, and the usual international hub procedures.

Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport sits near sea level at 374 ft.

Local operations run on America/Toronto. Because the field hosts scheduled airline operations, private operators should expect a defined slot environment, possible CDM coordination at peak banks, and limited ramp availability during major event weekends. Booking FBO ramp space in advance is normal practice.

SkyAccess currently tracks 6 departing and 6 arriving private-jet legs at CYOW across the next six months of operator inventory. 1 aircraft from 4 operators are based here or fly through regularly, so most empty-leg supply originates from a local fleet rather than out-of-town repositioning.

As one of the larger fields in Canada, CYOW tends to be the natural choice for long-range international charters and crew-rest-required flights.

Ottawa/Macdonald–Cartier International Airport or simply Ottawa International Airport is the main international airport serving the National Capital Region of Canada which contains the cities of Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec. Located 8 nautical miles south of downtown Ottawa in the south end of the city, it is Canada's sixth-busiest airport, Ontario's second-busiest airport by airline passenger traffic, with 4,866,236 passengers in 2025. The airport is a major hub for Porter Airlines, a focus city for Air Canada and Air Transat and a home base for Canadian North. The airport is named after the Canadian statesmen and two of the "founding fathers of Canada", Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier.