Brantford Municipal Airport lands new firm

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A brand new aviation firm has landed at Brantford Municipal Airport.

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Jetway, an plane inspection, restore and upkeep firm, arrived in August after a prolonged seek for area.

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“I had been on the lookout for hangar area for a few 12 months and explored loads of totally different choices,” proprietor Michael Hicks mentioned. “I thought of Huronia airport however that was only a bit too far-off for me to get the staff I must work on planes.

“Brantford is an effective choice due to its location and it doesn’t have the entire charges related to bigger airports.”

Hicks mentioned the employees he must work on planes are highly-skilled and most are concentrated within the Greater Toronto Area. Those jobs pay between $50 and $60 an hour.

“I favored what I noticed in Brantford and be mindful, I don’t want a global airport,” Hicks mentioned. “I’m not flying passengers and Brantford has loads of room to develop and so much potential.”

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Jetway employs three individuals on the Brantford airport and Hicks is hoping to have the ability to develop the enterprise and add jobs.

“There are loads of advantages to having an airport that individuals don’t at all times see, Hicks mentioned. “They appeal to enterprise and when corporations wish to relocate they’re group’s which have easy accessibility to an airport.”

Hicks is renting hangar area from Brant Aero and mentioned that relationship enabled him to arrange store in Brantford.

The arrival of Jetway is an instance of the sort of companies the airport might convey to Brantford, Brant Aero president Blaine Field mentioned.

“There’s an organization in Toronto that handles the wheels on airliners,” Field mentioned. “All you actually should do is take the wheels off the airline, put them in a truck and produce them to Brantford.

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“All of the work may very well be achieved right here, the wheels loaded again on the truck and returned to Toronto.”

Field mentioned Brantford airport has a chance to fill a distinct segment within the aviation business.

Waterloo Airport is understood for industrial and company aviation whereas Hamilton airport is principally targeted on transporting cargo. Individuals seeking to fly from one vacation spot to a different can journey out of Toronto or London.

That leaves the door open for Brantford to turn out to be a hub for plane upkeep restore, Field mentioned.

Founded in 1972, Brant Aero is a multi-generational household firm that focuses on plane restore and upkeep and has about 40 staff. It additionally does avionics, the upkeep, restore and sale of elements used within the devices and methods used to function an plane.

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Mark Littell, chair of the Brantford Airport Commission, mentioned there may be loads of room for progress on the municipally-owned airport. Plans to type a municipal providers company will assist the airport notice its financial potential.

Additional particulars concerning the municipal providers company are anticipated to be accessible in early 2026.

Meanwhile, building of greater than 30 T-hangars on the airport are underway and plenty of of them have been leased to non-public plane homeowners. T-hangars are like a storage for planes and there’s a demand for them following the closure of different regional airports and a change of focus at others.

“It’s an thrilling time for the airport,” Littell mentioned. “There’s so much taking place and all the pieces is shifting in the precise course.”

Vball@postmedia.com

@EXPVBall

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