91原创 Township will spend this spring and summer hearing about the operations and future of the local airport.

Chaired by Mayor Eric Woodward and with Councillors Tim Baillie and Michael Pratt, and several community members, the task force held its inaugural meeting in March before getting down to business at its April 2 meeting.

Baillie said they heard from different groups from the airport.

鈥淲e got chance to listen to what their concerns are,鈥� Baillie said.

Pratt noted that the two big groups of airport users are very different. One group are local recreational pilots, flying small aircraft in and out of the facility for years.

Then there are the larger, industrial users, including aircraft repair and servicing facilities and flight schools.

The task force was created to provide recommendations to the Township council, with two major areas of interest.

The first is creating an economically viable long-term plan for the airport, and the second is to suggest future leasing models, land-use plans, and strategies for capital renewal.

The task force began its core work at the Tuesday, April 2 meeting, where it heard from airport staff on the current state of the airport.

Both Baillie and Pratt said that they want to keep the airport running, but that the goal of the task force鈥檚 work is to put it on a sustainable financial footing.

鈥淭his hasn鈥檛 been looked at comprehensively in a long time,鈥� said Baillie.

Pratt noted that on a year-to-year basis, the airport has generally broken even, financially.

But that does not include major facility upgrades or repairs.

Pratt said he would like to see a healthy reserve fund to even out the ups and downs in the airport鈥檚 finances.

A tentative timeline sees meetings of the task force taking place every few weeks, including April 30, May 23, and June 20, with future meetings looking at leasing issues, formulating a report, and finalizing recommendations to the council.

In addition to commercial aircraft operations and small operators, the airport is home to the Canadian Museum of Flight, which restores and preserves a number of historic aircraft, from bush planes to a rare Second World War bomber, to a Snowbird aircraft.

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