It was intended to include all airports with an annual traffic of 200,000 passengers or more, as well as airports serving the national, provincial and territorial capitals.
[1] All airports in the NAS, with the exception of the three territorial capitals, are owned by Transport Canada and leased to the local authorities operating them.
[3][a] Iqaluit is operated by Nunavut Airport Services Limited (NASL), a subsidiary of WASCO (Winnipeg Airport Services Corporation), which in turn is a subsidiary of Winnipeg Airports Authority.
[4] Due to very close proximity to Canada's east coast, the airports on the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (an overseas collectivity of France) cooperate with Canada on air travel via several major Canadian airports.
[5] The following list contains the 26 NAS airports effective 13 May 2024, the location, operator, and their passenger numbers for 2023 (except where noted):[2]