By Nick Stewart
The recent announcement of the second phase of a new eight-acre, $1.25 million development park is just one of a number of activities underway at the Greater Sudbury Airport.
“Land development areas are at capacity, so we’re looking to expand on the southeast quadrant,” says Robert Johnson, chief executive officer.
“It’s a moderate-sized expansion, but that’s basically all the land we have available in that quadrant.”
The first phase of the project, completed last year, involved a $700,000 rehabilitation of an apron in anticipation of making these new lands accessible.
This second phase of the Apron III commercial development expansion will build a 9,000 square-metre paved taxi lane. This will open up between five and eight new lots at the airport, which is currently at capacity. A minimum of four will act as medium-to large-sized lots in order to accommodate new hangars and to provide new aviation-sector business access to air side lands such as aprons and runways. Interest from a variety of potential clients, including charter services for the mining industry, have already shown interest in the new lands and are currently in negotiations with the airport, says Johnson.
Some plans are already in place for the site, as existing tenants such as the Sudbury Flying Club, will be forced to take up residence in the new area as they are shuffled from their current location to the southwest as a result of expansion plans by Discovery Air. The company, which provides a variety of charter services to the Ministry of Natural Resources, is looking to broaden its offerings to include aircraft maintenance. This will necessitate the potential construction of a large hangar in the upcoming spring.
“We feel this expansion is a very important and strategic step in our growth,” says Johnson. “Without these lands, we simply cannot attract new business, and we feel we have to be investment-ready.”
This phase of the project is said to be a short-term expansion, and as the project moves forward in the next 5-10 years, new areas may be opened up at the site’s northeast quadrant. Potential areas are also being considered in the southeast, where land is being assessed to gauge its viability for long-term business development.
Funding for the project has yet to be confirmed, but $900,000 is applied for equally between FedNor and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. Requests for additional funding are being made through the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation, which has already passed a resolution supporting the project.
In the interests of stimulating even further business investment on airport lands, the airport’s board of directors recently approved the hire of a new dedicated position called the Director of Business Development. This position will focus on making air travel more attractive in the Sudbury area. It will also seek to increase the number of flights, passengers and options available through the airport.
Johnson says these projects complement the increase in the airport’s bread-and-butter leisure services flight activity, which has also increased in recent months.
Sunwing Airlines, which partnered with the airport last winter to provide flights to Varadero, Cuba, has expanded its program this year to also include flights to Cancun, Mexico and Orlando, Florida.
Also expanding its service offerings is Bearskin Airlines, which recently moved to create a direct morning flight to Thunder Bay as well as a midday flight to Ottawa.
Johnson says the flurry of activity at the airport is indicative of a general upswing in business, with 2006 seeing a projected 12 per cent increase in scheduled passengers over 2005 levels.
“That’s significant in any market, but it’s especially significant in the Sudbury market considering that we’ve had downward pressure on our passengers for many, many years and it’s just in the last two years that we’ve seen a turnaround. We certainly are very optimistic about the economy in Sudbury, especially as the mining sector is very strong, and we’re hoping that this momentum is going to carry forward and that we’re going to continue to see some increases in the future.”
