Build it and fill it: Parry Sound airport expands its hangar space for the third time.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

The managers of the Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport could be the poster boys for how small Canadian airports can survive and thrive.

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The facility is undergoing a third round of construction and expansion with 21 new private hangars and three commercial hangars going up this year.

A great deal of rock blasting was done to carve away a hill and prepare the site to accommodate new power, water and sewer connections for the hangars.

This latest round of expansion involves more than $3 million in investment. A good chunk--about $2 million--is private money, with the feds and province each chipping in $495,000, and $120,000 coming from the airport's reserves.

Airport commissioner Doug Sainsbury said 18 aircraft owners have signed up to lease hangar lot spaces. Two companies are coming in, including a large aircraft and helicopter servicing and refurbishment business. It will tack on seven more jobs to a total of 110 full-time jobs at the facility, which includes an industrial park.

"It's all word of mouth," said Sainsbury, who is also a Seguin Township councillor. "We don't do any formal advertising. Pilots come in and see we're clearing more land then ask what we're doing ... and it goes from there."

With the land cleared, construction starts in August. The airport authority doesn't build anything, only leasing the lots. The pilots and companies construct their own hangars, although Sainsbury said the commission is contemplating building a third hangar as a drawing card for aviation companies.

In his seven years on the commission, he has watched five companies relocate to the airport, located 20 kilometres south of the town on Highway 400. The facility is jointly run by Seguin Township and the Town of Parry Sound.

Its commission has a successful track record for attracting new tenants in aviation and non-aviation light manufacturing. The airport is already blessed to have bushplane manufacturer Found Aircraft as an anchor tenant since 1999, and Lawrence Aero, a light aircraft maintenance shop, since 1982.

The commission knows the ropes in how to tap into federal and provincial funds in building 17 private hangars on the airport's east side in 2007, along with making major infrastructure upgrades and a passenger terminal expansion.

By 2008, they were adding more infrastructure to expand their industrial park, which encouraged three local companies to relocate.

All this development through the years has put the airport in...