When Seguin township councillor Doug Sainsbury was appointed as Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport Commissioner, his Ward 4 constituents along Lake Joseph instructed him to close down the facility.
The airport, located 20 km south of Parry Sound, was regarded by many as a country club for weekend flyers and a drain on taxpayers dollars.
After surveying the surroundings, Sainsbury viewed the airport as a "diamond in the rough."
Jointly owned by Seguin Township and the Town of Parry Sound, the 400-acre facility entertains delegations from other small-town operators, coming to extract the secret of how to operate a money-making airport.
After years of red ink, the airport made money in 2007, posting $430,000, most of which went into expenditures to construct new buildings and upgrade the infrastructure. Sainsbury fully expects the commission to reach $500,000 this year, mostly from leases with new tenants.
Not too shabby considering many municipally-owned Ontario airports average more than $95,000 in operating losses each year.
With the new alignment of Highway 400 closer to the airport, the 400-acre facility is increasingly taking on the appearance of an industrial park. A business-focused strategic vision to upgrade the airport's infrastructure, attract new tenants (aviation-related and otherwise) and an offer of cheap land, at 75-cents per square foot, all of these components are opening up new opportunities.
The airport is already home to Found Aircraft and within the last year, a 1,200-square-foot terminal addition created space for a pilot accessory store and an expanded flying school. Eighteen private hangars have been built with three more hangars of 5,000-square-feet each are going up later this year.
Pro-Safe Fire Training Systems is relocating from the industrial park at Nobel into a new 8,000-square-foot building at the airport, bringing in 12 employees with operations resuming by mid-August.
The airport management is giving up its new 3,000-square-foot maintenance building to a new arrival, Power Products, a maker of pneumatic presses, expected to be in production by August or September.
Another company has approached the commission to construct a 30,000-square-foot facility for a non-aviation-related business on some cleared land beside Highway 400.
All the activity is good news to Fred Axt.
The Parry Sound-raised tool-and-die maker moved home from Kitchener two years ago to go into business for himself running a custom machine shop for local manufacturers.
The commission provided him with a 3,000-square-foot building and Northern Ontario Heritage Fund delivered a $25,000 government grant which he invested into new equipment.
"They've really done a good job in bringing this airport around," says the Conestoga College grad.
The four-laned highway places him only one hour's drive from large industry suppliers in Barrie, but as word has gotten out about his shop, there's been more than enough local work to keep Axt and his two employees busy seven days a week.
"I've done work for every business in town that would require my services," says Axt mentioning Crofter's Foods, Esprit Ropes and the Canadian Coast Guard.
One of his neighbours, Paul Landry of Lawrence Aero, seen the dramatic changes over his last 20 years in business.
His company services and certifies work on single-engine float and wheeled piston-powered commercial aircraft.
Once local politicians held a dim view of spending taxpayers dollars at the airport and chronically underfunded the facility while regularly incurring annual losses of $70,000 to $80,000.
"They weren't aware of how busy the airport was," says Landry, who handles more than 50 aircraft a year. "We're one of the few airports with a paved runway and a seaplane base," with a ramp off the apron leading down to Robert's Lake.
He always felt the airport should aggressively market itself as an industrial park because of its space, highway visibility and three-phase power.
Landry says if the 4,000-foot runway were to be extended "it would change the nature of this airport."
He would like to attract a private college to run a commercial pilots training school with student housing.
That could happen says Sainsbury.
Airport officials are looking to extend the runway by 2,000 feet, a $5 million investment that could come together over the next 18 months.
Some interested private investors and small air carriers are prepared to deliver summer weekend charter service into Parry Sound for cottagers and golfers coming from the U.S. and Toronto's Island and Buttonville airports.
It all hinges on the airport regaining its CANPASS, a federal pre-security clearance for pilots traveling North America. It was taken away from Parry Sound and many small airports after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"If we can get CANPASS, we can get this private money to extend our runway."
That would attract small jets and more ancillary services.
Sainsbury says the secret to success has been the dedicated team on the commission that includes a project engineer, a realtor, a former hotelier and marina owner.
"They've been willing to devote their time and energy to the task at hand."
www.parrysoundairport.com
