A one-stop shop

Red Deer Regional Airport converts terminal into FBO

By Shayna Wiwierski

Red Deer Regional Airport recently made changes to its terminal after Air Canada ceased service in 2018.

Construction started in November 2019 to turn the existing terminal at the Red Deer Regional Airport into a full-service Fixed-Based Operator (FBO), in partnership with Tucana Aviation. Since the airport was home to mainly flight training schools and charter flights in support of the oil patch, a decision was made to focus on

growing this business, while at the same time providing a better level of service for its existing customers. As a result, they entered into a partnership agreement with Tucana Aviation, a local Red Deer company that has experience operating FBOs, and with that, the contacts necessary to help grow the airport charter business.

“That was part of our business development strategy,” says Graham Ingham, CEO of the Red Deer Regional Airport. “We chose Tucana for several reasons, with the primary being that they already had a business presence at the airport, and therefore already significantly invested from a business perspective. Additionally, they understood that for this venture to be successful, they would need to invest some of their own money. That’s always a win-win; anytime you can help existing tenants expand their business, that’s something we look upon favourably.”

The FBO at the airport will provide support in the form of fueling, deicing, maintenance, catering, transportation/ accommodation logistics, and more. The renovation was completed in the first week of December and included new flooring, a new ceiling, a private flight crew lounge, and a general overall facelift to the building, which was built in the 1970s.

Ingham says that the response from carriers that have been using the FBO has been positive and that they like the fact that they have only one person to call for all their needs.

“They like being able to get ahold of somebody 24/7,” says Ingham. “They appreciate the increased focus on customer service and no longer feel their business is being taken for granted.”

The upgrades cost about $115,000 and Budal Construction out of Red Deer were the general contractors on the project.

Since this is the only terminal the airport has, they are looking to build a second one in the next few years to support bigger aircraft.

This project is one of many things that the Red Deer Regional Airport has planned for the future of the airport. Ingham says that they are heavily focused on land development right now with two land development projects currently in the works, one of which has the potential to add $2.4 million in lease revenue and more than 500 local jobs to the community. He also hopes that in the future they will land a large tenant, as well as scheduled service to support upgrades to their existing runway/taxiways, approaching lighting, and more.

The renovation was completed in the first week of December 2019 and included new flooring, a new ceiling, a private flight crew lounge, and a general overall facelift to the building, which was built in the 1970s.

The FBO was just the first step in bringing more traffic to the business.

“From the airport’s perspective, this was an opportunity to work with Tucana Aviation to drive more traffic to the airport. Anytime they are going to bring more traffic to the airport, that means an increase in revenue,” says Ingham. “Concerning the community,

obviously the more traffic you can drive to the airport, the more opportunity there will be for smaller businesses such as restaurants, hotels, and rental car agencies to thrive and prosper.”