[2] The first aircraft to operate in the Charlottetown area was one that landed at the exhibition grounds east of the city's central business district in 1912; it was not until 1931 that a permanent airfield was built.

Today the site is farmland and trees, and a popular area for walking dogs, hiking, cross country skiing, and other recreational activities.

Upton Airport was rejected due to lack of space, and the Sherwood Station property in the central part of Charlottetown Royalty was purchased by the city government for $30,000.

The runways were altered into a classic triangle configuration seen with most British Commonwealth Air Training Plan aerodromes across Canada.

Following the end of World War II, the military presence at the airport diminished by late 1945 and the base was decommissioned and transferred from the RCAF to the federal Department of Transport on February 1, 1946, returning the airfield to civilian use.

Several expansions were subsequently undertaken, including an enlarged civilian air terminal off the Brackley Point Road on the west side of the airfield, as well as a lengthening and realigning of what would become runway 03/21 during the 1960s-1970s to accommodate jet aircraft.

The opening of the Confederation Bridge in 1997 coupled with capacity improvements at Moncton and Halifax airports saw many changes to air traffic through Charlottetown.

The trend started when Air Canada introduced non-stop flights to Montreal-Trudeau Airport from Charlottetown after the acquisition of Canadian Airlines.

[37] This same OAG also lists Eastern Provincial's flights with Boeing 737-200 jet service being operated on the same routes with the airline also having replaced its Handley Page Dart Herald aircraft with Hawker Siddeley HS 748 turboprops by this time.

Air Canada and Eastern Provincial were continuing to serve the airport during the early 1980s with Air Canada operating one daily nonstop to Ottawa with a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 with this flight continuing on to Toronto while Eastern Provincial was operating one daily nonstop flight to Montreal with a Boeing 737-200.

[38] However, by early 1985, Eastern Provincial, while continuing to serve the airport, was no longer operating nonstop flights to Montreal from Charlottetown.