The Niagara District Airport is preparing for major upgrades and looking at ways to fly more travellers to more places in Canada and North America — but those behind the new master plan say it’s still early and they need public feedback to shape the next 20 years.
A new master plan has been underway since last summer to guide the airport located in Niagara-on-the-Lake through 2045, with a draft expected in the coming months and completion anticipated for this summer.
The airport — run by a commission of the municipalities of St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake — is collaborating on the plan with Avia NG, an aviation consulting firm.
“This is not my master plan,” said Joshua Horst, senior manager with Avia NG, to a group gathered at the airport on Wednesday.
“It’s your master plan for this airport — as taxpayers, as the region that has vested interest in this airport.”
A public session was held May 7 at the terminal, where residents could review early concepts, ask questions and provide input — all of which will directly influence the final plan.
No budget or funding for the upgrade and development concepts has been set at this time.
An airport master plan lays out a roadmap for fixing and upgrading airport spaces. It also identifies where future growth could happen and shows why the airport matters.
“A lot of people — I’ve heard it through this process today — are just not aware of what this airport does today and what it could be in the future,” said Horst at the session.
Other residents have shared some “understandable” thoughts and concerns, said Horst in an interview with The Lake Report.
“There’s been some expressing, ‘Let’s see this airport grow.’ Others are coming up with some hesitancy and wanting more clarity around, ‘What does the plan really mean? What’s the runway extension potential look like?’” Horst said.
The airport’s strategic plan led to an update to the master plan — its first since 1992.
The first stage of the recommended redevelopment plan includes a new fire hall, operations building, fuel farm upgrades and an expanded terminal.
It also shows that one of the airport’s three runways could be closed and turned into a taxiway to improve traffic flow.
Stage two includes a new terminal building — about 4,000 to 6,000 square metres, subject to refinement — plus a new parking lot.
The existing terminal would stay, repurposed as a service centre for general aviation, meaning private and charter flights.
An air service study found strong demand for commercial flights, which, currently, the airport doesn’t have.
Dan Pilon, the airport’s chief executive officer, said that to handle commercial flights, especially with the size of planes they need, the airport currently lacks proper facilities, including space for security and customs, and may need to extend the runway depending on the aircraft size.
He said a commercial scheduled flight is one with passengers who bought a ticket to fly from point A to point B, like at Pearson, whereas a charter is when someone rents the whole plane.
“There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s the basic thing,” he said in an interview.
The airport is considering starting with domestic routes to Ottawa and Montreal, eventually expanding to Vancouver, Calgary and warm-weather destinations like Cancun, Varadero, Punta Cana, Montego Bay and Florida.
Adding customs services is also being considered, which could open routes to New York, Boston, Chicago and Las Vegas. These aren’t confirmed routes, just the ones with the most demand.
Spencer Abt, a NOTL resident who does maintenance on aircraft in Sudbury, sees big potential in expanding airport services, especially for private jets.
“There’s definitely opportunity, even just looking at it from fixing them, which is my point of view,” said Abt.
“There’s lots of jobs that you don’t think of right off the top of your head. There’s plenty that expanding the airport can do.”
He believes scheduled commercial flights wouldn’t hinder the airport’s existing services, but would make travel more affordable.
“Gets more tourism in here,” he said, adding that a flight to Ottawa would be convenient for him.
Pilon said the region is the 13th largest metropolitan area in Canada.
“We’re not the 13th largest airport,” he said, adding that economic growth in tourism depends on access, and limited transportation options have kept the region’s visitor numbers flat for 20 to 25 years.
“We’ve had other regions and other airports that have jumped right over us. Many times over,” he said.
The region’s population is expected to grow to 700,000 by 2051, and people in the area already take more flights than the national average.
“If we make it a whole lot easier for people to live here to actually do that (take flights) instead of having to go to all these other locations, that’s a benefit.”
There were small commercial flights from the airport to Toronto through FlyGTA — a short-haul airline starting service in NOTL in 2017 — but COVID shut it down.
“It saw year-over-year growth. And that, I think, highlighted the potential that got people thinking,” said Horst in an interview.
Niagara also attracts more than 13 million tourists a year, with 4.5 million overnight stays in 2019. The area has a higher, on average, disposable income than other airport areas, making it a promising location for future air service, the crowd was told.
“It’s about making sure people come here and spend their dollars here,” Pilon said.
The airport’s 2023 strategic plan set four priorities that now guide the master plan: advocacy, alignment, analytics and protecting the airport as a long-term asset.
The airport has collected data, mapped opportunities and constraints and assessed its needs. What happens next depends, in part, on what the community says now.
“I’m not out here delivering you a finished product today. That frankly would be inappropriate,” said Horst at the session.
After hearing the community’s thoughts, a draft plan will be produced, which will lead to a capital and phasing plan, which won’t set fixed construction dates but will lay out how the airport could expand in stages, building just enough, at the right time.
The airport will announce a future public session in the coming weeks, or people can share feedback online at niagaradistrictairportmasterplan2025-2045.ca.
