St. Andrews Airport, just a five-minute drive north of Winnipeg, is undergoing its first expansion since it was certified by Transport Canada in 1964.
Construction began in early June on the $2.3 million expansion of land to the south that is adding 10 airside lots serviced by roads, sewer and utility services and access taxiways for airplanes.
“In addition to the airside lots, the expansion plans also include non-airside lots on the west side of Airport Drive,” notes airport manager Craig Skonberg.
“Everything is going so smoothly that we are ahead of schedule.”
He reports the engineering firm overseeing the project is Avia NG Engineering, a company out of Port Elgin, Ont., that specializes in airports.
The overall contractor is Maple Leaf Construction.
“It has been a very simple job for us,” says Craig Erb, Maple Leaf Construction’s project manager onsite. “There is no problem with silt and we have access to good building material from our quarry in Stonewall which is nearby.”
St. Andrews Airport is a general aviation airport covering approximately 473 hectares of land amidst flat farmland and rural housing. The airport has been fully owned by the Rural Municipality (RM) of St. Andrews since 1999 and is governed by the St. Andrews Airport Board, which is comprised of airport stakeholders, local residents appointed by the RM and two members of the RM of St. Andrews
“The St. Andrews Airport is thriving with operating profits annually and growth to the point that all airside and groundside lots for tenants are fully occupied,” said airport board chairperson Jerry Roehr in a press release. “This occupancy led the current airport board to plan this expansion which is being paid for entirely by the airport through operations and not through the investment of any taxpayer dollars or monies from existing airport tenants.”
Skonberg reports the airport authority is in discussions with five or six potential new tenants.
Major construction was expected to be wrapped up by mid-August with the electrical work and hook-ups to be completed by mid-September.
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