# Alert Airport (YLT)

> Alert, CA · IATA: YLT · ICAO: CYLT · Medium Airport

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `YLT` |
| ICAO | `CYLT` |
| City | Alert |
| Country | CA |
| Type | Medium Airport |
| Elevation | 30 m |
| Cargo | ❌ |
| GPS | 82.51780, -62.28060 |

## Description

Alert (YLT/CYLT) is the northernmost permanently operational airport on Earth, sitting at 82.5° North on the north-eastern tip of Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, roughly 820 km from the geographic North Pole. It exists to serve Canadian Forces Station Alert and has no scheduled passenger flights and no commercial freight handling. Resupply comes twice a year through Operation Boxtop, a Royal Canadian Air Force airlift flown by CC-130 Hercules and CC-177 Globemaster aircraft staged from Pituffik (formerly Thule Air Base) in Greenland, about 680 km to the south-east. The loads are fuel, construction material, vehicles and personnel rotations — none of it open to commercial shippers. The 1991 loss of Boxtop 22, which killed five people 16 km short of the runway, still marks how demanding these approaches are. For commercial air cargo into Nunavut, Iqaluit (YFB) is the nearest genuine handling point, normally fed from Ottawa or Montréal.

---

*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/alert-airport-ylt](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/alert-airport-ylt)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/alert-airport-ylt](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/alert-airport-ylt)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/alert-airport-ylt/llm-summary*