to make an emergency landing along the same runway. It landed deep inside the tarmac. Prince George Airport was commercialized in 1963 when Mrs. P. Richardson opened the first coffee shop in the terminal. Wildlife such as moose or deer can be seen occasionally from the runway. During the WW2 years, wildlife near the airport was largely wiped out due to airport soldiers hunting in their free time. CP Air operated jet service into the airport during the 1970s primarily with the Boeing 737-200 jet liner with non-stop flights to Vancouver, Fort St. John and Whitehorse as well as direct, no change of plane service to Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Fort Nelson and Watson Lake. CP Air also operated non-stop Boeing 727-100 jet service to Vancouver as well as direct to Edmonton via a stop in Grande Prairie during the mid 1970s. Pacific Western Airlines also served Prince George at this time with Boeing 737-200 jet service to Vancouver, Edmonton, Kamloops and Dawson Creek, and de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop and Douglas DC-3 flights to Kelowna, Penticton, Prince Rupert, Smithers, Terrace, Quesnel and Williams Lake. CP Air and Pacific Western would continue to compete with non-stop service to Vancouver into the 1980s with both airlines flying Boeing 737-200 on the route. Pacific Western acquired CP Air and the combined airlines then operated as Canadian Airlines International. Prince George Airport underwent a significant expansion and revitalization from 2003 to 2005 that included the development of more check-in counters, larger pre-board screening and holding areas, new baggage carousels, and a border control facility for processing international flights. On November 17, 2009, the first Boeing 747 aircraft touched down at Prince George Airport, as part of a refuelling stop. It was a Southern Air cargo flight, en route from Caracas, Venezuela to Shanghai, China. This comes as a result of a runway expansion, increasing the length of runway 15/33 from to , making it the third longest runway in Canada, behind Calgary International () and Vancouver International (). On December 19, 2009, a fire destroyed the Northern Thunderbird Air terminal with no loss of life The airline has stated that operations would continue as normal despite the setback. On July 13, 2012, the third-largest operating cargo aircraft landed at Prince George Airport to pick up cargo. The Antonov-124 touched down safely to pick up 7 helicopters from VIH Helicopters en route to