Captain Ernest O. Hall flew the first aircraft to land at Kamloops on August 1^st, 1919.  Arriving from Merritt, he gave a �stunting� demonstration and later took up paying passengers for local tours from the old polo grounds east of the city.  One of them was Chief Eli LaRue of the Saint Paul Reserve, who would go on record as the first indigenous person to fly in BC.

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The next aircraft arrived on the river in October 1920, a Curtiss HS-2L flown by Major McLaurin on an aerial survey of Kamloops Forest District. 

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Other RCAF float equipped aircraft like this Fairchild FC-2W arrived over the following years to continue surveying and forestry patrol duties.  By 1928, however, the Kamloops Board of Trade had recognized the need for a land based facility and began searching for an appropriate site. 

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In September of that year, a Yukon Airways Eaglerock en route to Whitehorse landed at the St. Paul Reserve.  The idea seems to have stuck; in June of 1929, the Band agreed to allow the Kamloops Air Club to use the Reserve as a flying base, subject to annual renewal of the lease.  An attempt by the City Council to establish its own airfield at the reserve was approved by the licensing authorities, but could not be pursued because of the City�s lack of resources during the depression years. 

Conditions remained rudimentary at the private St. Paul Reserve field.  Kamloops Air Service had offered training in a Fleet Model 2 but had to move in 1931 to a licenced field near Trail.  The City�s lack of resources persisted through to the spring of 1938, when it finally was able to purchase a suitable 45 acre site from BC Fruitlands to the west of the City.  A grant was later secured from the federal government to upgrade the field and pave the runway. 

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The airport was now ready to host the kind of events other communities had enjoyed:  an informal fly-in in 1938, and, for its grand official opening, an airshow in 1939, featuring a variety of aircraft including this Stinson SR Reliant.

1939 also saw the inauguration of air mail service from Kamloops to Prince George and Whitehorse by Yukon Southern Air Transport�s Barclay-Grow aircraft. 

Between 1939 and 1945 the airport was further developed by the RCAF as an alternate aerodrome and staging point for north-south aircraft movements in support of the US Army Air Force�s lend/lease program with Russia.  The runway was extended to 5200 feet and taxiways and buildings constructed.  The detachment at Number 16 Staging Unit at one point consisted of more than 100 people.  This aerial photo shows the airport and City in the background as it was shortly after the end of the war.

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In the period since then, the airport has been significantly upgraded and expanded.  The federal Department of Transport began an expansion and improvement program in 1961.  Further development started in 1982, including expansion of the terminals and runways.  Major upgrades of airside facilities and the terminal funded by federal and provincial governments and by the airport itself were completed by 2009.

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