Aviation industry slow to take off.

While most major centres in Northern Ontario are plotting economic strategies to spur airport development and growth in an effort to offset losses from reduced passenger air travel since 9/11, Thunder Bay's airport is celebrating its busiest passenger year in over a decade.

"Last year, we had the busiest passenger year since 1988," says Scott McFadden, president and chief executive officer for the Thunder Bay International Airport Authority. "I believe we had about 589,000 travelers, which was a 3.6 per cent increase over 2002."

The availability of competitive air fares, improved service in and out of Thunder Bay and the availability of "sun spot" charters from Thunder Bay to Cuba, Cancun and the Dominican Republic are among the contributors to last year's travel numbers, he says. There are also smaller operators providing more services throughout Northern Ontario, as well.

Thunder Bay Airport operates under a 20-year master plan, with a review taking place every five years and updates to the plan every year. McFadden says a strong emphasis is placed on economic development.

Last year the authority spent $3.5 million for aviation commercial development on the north side of the airport. The funding was provided by FedNor and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

"The main anchor out there, of course is Confederation College with its Aviation Centre of Excellence, but we have put in additional infrastructure for new business development," says McFadden. "Working with the city, we got unanimous council support to establish a community improvement tax incentive zone. It was to be in conjunction with, but independent of the announcement last year (of a Northern Ontario tax incentive zone), but that does seem to be up in the air, now that we have a new provincial government in place."

In Sault Ste. Marie and other parts of the North, a different story is unfolding.

At the height of its activity, 170,000 passengers routinely came through the airport in Sault Ste. Marie, passing through its doors on the way to connections to larger airports in southern Ontario and elsewhere or simply on business.

Then, says Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Committee president Jerry Dolcetti, came 9/11.

"Passenger levels have been down since 2001," he says. "It dropped from 170,000 to 120,000 and it is only making a very moderate recovery. We're going to be lucky if we ever reach 150,000 in the next four to five years. We're projecting 130,000 by fiscal year end at the end of March."

The airport is actively seeking new opportunities that are strengthened by the Sault's proximity to the Midwest United States for transportation of goods, servicing of aircraft and flight training. The latter of which is made possible by the location of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources water bomber facilities and Sault College offering curriculum for training pilots.

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"The challenge is that it's an area that is highly competitive," he says. "When Transportation Canada owned all the airports, they were treated as hubs, but since the federal government handed over ownership to the municipalities, we've had to come up with ingenious ways to attract business."

Dolcetti says the airport is too dependent on air passengers for its revenue and to pay its property taxes.

He says the airport has a business and master land-use plan for the airport that it is trying to implement, but it is a slow process.

Competition from other transportation modes is a challenge also for the Sudbury Airport.

As the government edges forward with the four-laning of Highway 69, fewer people have reason to choose air travel, says Greater Sudbury's general manager of economic development and planning services, Doug Nadorozny.

For the past three years, passenger levels hovered around 158,748 per year.

"That means we have to look at, if we're not going to grow in Sudbury-Toronto air traffic, where are our opportunities to grow out at the airport?" he says.

The answer, as it turns out, is looking not toward travel north and south, but rather it is a question of travelling east and west and charters that fly directly to sunshine destinations further south.

"The real big business is in the commercial side, getting plane-loads of people in and out of the city and establishing ourselves as a hub," he says. "We have a company looking at a charter service and another looking at some helicopter services so there is plenty of opportunity for growth in the private sector."

Harley Nikkel, manager of the Timmins Airport, says the Timmins airport has a large area of surplus land that the city is marketing.

The airport has a total of 2,500 acres of which only 900 are cleared and being used. That includes a kilometre of highway access land moving toward the south of the airport to the north of the city.

Timmins Airport receives approximately 150,000 passengers a year, including many from the more remote areas of Northern Ontario, including the James Bay Coast. The airport also serves as a flight training and air service centre.

Diversifiying and attracting new business is definitely a goal for the management of the North Bay Jack Garland Airport, says airport manager Rick Proulx.

The Jack Garland Airport, which has an approximate $18-million economic impact on the local economy, already has some strong anchors, including Voyageur Airways, which employs about 250 people in North Bay, as well as Bombardier, manufacturer of the CL-415 water bombers. The $12-million Canadore Aviation Centre and multiple smaller operations are housed at the airport, says Proulx.

Last year's air passengers numbered about 59,000, almost identical to the previous year and less than in 2000 when numbers were as high as 74,000.

"We have infrastructure and services that we are trying to market for flight-testing, such as a 10,000 foot main runway," he says.

"North Bay also has a protected flight-test corridor so we get a lot of aircraft training activity taking place."

By ANDREW WAREING

Northern Ontario Business