Starting March 7, customs service will be returning to Sarnia's Chris Hadfield Airport.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) made the announcement on Thursday.
Airport Terminal Operations Supervisor Mike Roberts said the facility will be operating daily between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m.
He said it's welcome news for the community, and out of town workers.
"There are some large international companies that regularly use the Sarnia airport," said Roberts. "We feel that it's important that these companies have Chris Hadfield Airport as an option for moving executives and employees to Lambton County. There are also some people flying in and out using corporate airline services and a lot of private aircraft operators that quite often would fly into the U.S. and use Sarnia as a place to clear customs."
Roberts said it's also a positive for Enbridge's Aviation Division which has been operating a helicopter out of the airport for years. He said they conduct pipeline patrols in the U.S., and it's important to them to be able to land in Sarnia and clear customs instead of using another facility.
Roberts said there were a total of 48 U.S. corporate arrivals at the airport in 2019, and 59 the year before. He anticipates that number will rise with no passenger service available.
CBSA suspended service at Chris Hadfield Airport in May of 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
Roberts said they're still working to bring back a passenger airline service, after Air Canada ceased flights to Sarnia in July of 2020.
At the time, the airline cited declining ridership as one of the main reasons.
