The departure follows years of wrangling over requests from the Arab Gulf nation to boost the number of long-haul routes its fast-growing state carriers can operate into Canadian airports.

Canada says the base pullout won’t hurt its contribution to NATO’s mission in Afghanistan.

Canada had a years-old right to use the base known as Camp Mirage under an agreement that expired in June, according to an Emirati official familiar with the negotiations.

The official, who insisted on anonymity as a condition for speaking about the matter, said the agreement was extended through the end of September “in a show of goodwill” as the two countries worked to hammer out a deal that included landing right concessions.

“That show of goodwill was not reciprocated on the Canadian side,” the official said.

A Canadian government official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter with the media and also spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the pullout and said Canadian troops are working on a contingency plan to relocate military assets stationed at the base.

UAE airlines Emirates and Etihad each run three flights a week to Canada. The two carriers are growing rapidly in large part by launching long-haul routes to cities across the globe that funnel travelers to their hubs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for connecting flights.

The UAE argues that more flights should be allowed into Canada to keep up with demand.

But Air Canada has argued against increasing the flights, saying there is very little passenger traffic originating from the UAE and that the airlines are merely taking Canadians to third countries with stopovers in the Gulf.

Both Emirates and Etihad declined to comment on the dispute Monday. Air Canada didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Word of the Canadian pullout comes just days after the UAE dropped its threat to ban key data features on BlackBerrys, the popular handsets made by Research in Motion Ltd., one of Canada’s most prominent technology companies.

Camp Mirage is widely believed to be located at Al-Minhad Air Base outside Dubai. Canada and a number of other US allies use the facility as a logistical and supply site for operations in and out of Afghanistan.

Canada has about 2,900 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led mission. Canada has said its mission will end in 2011.