Sarnia council is expected to decide what the city's long-term role will be in the future of Sarnia's Chris Hadfield Airport next month.
Council is being asked to direct staff to provide notice to the public at its regular meeting on Monday, January 20 to discuss the issue on February 10.
Mayor Mike Bradley continues to advocate the need for the airport.
"The city must have an airport in my view," said Bradley. "It is important to economic and social development. How the airport operates, and by who, is the big question. The public's getting lots of notice on this that there has to be a decision made because the investment we'd be making, of $300,000 to $400,000 a year, is coming to an end this year. If we're going to renew that, we need to send that message to the operator and we also need to send that message to the community."
Air Canada grounded its flights for good in Sarnia in 2020.
"Air Canada cut over 36 cities out of their flights in Ontario in the last few years after COVID, and during COVID, like they did to us. So, the opportunity to get a major airline back in is going to be a real struggle. A smaller airline is a possibility, but the climate right now is not good right across the country trying to do that," he said.
Bradley said the key now for council is to decide if they should divest the airport, reinvest in it, or figure out whether or not the city helps operate it.
"We were gifted for so many years with Clare Webb [Sarnia's airport manager] and the operation," he said. "Because of the flights coming in, he used the flights to subsidize the airport and to make a profit, but we had no need to put money into the airport or to operate it. I like that approach because it's not the expertise of the city. But, the council's going to have to make a decision about which path you want to go down."
Bradley said the airport is still used frequently by corporations, Air Ornge, policing agencies and private pilots.
He reiterated the possibility of opening up the site to new opportunities, like re-establishing Sarnia's Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment there, sponsorship, land development, or even a museum dedicated to Chris Hadfield.
Bradley is hoping council takes a "progressive point of view."
"Yes, there is a subsidy involved, but we subsidize many activities in the community for the betterment of the community," he said. "Transit being one of the bigger examples, but there's many others. From ice hockey arenas, to a number of other facilities. We try to run them like a business, but we understand it's often difficult to make the money you would if you were directly in business."
The Sarnia Airport Action Working Group proposed several ideas to save the airport in 2021, including facilities to accommodate executive aircraft, creating a cost-effective business park and developing a "Chris Hadfield Air and Space Centre" for aviation activities and special events.
Public engagement in advance of an Economic Development Master Plan, expected to be completed this April, listed the airport as one of the top four city owned assets -- following the waterfront, harbour and port facilities, and business parks and industrial lands.
If council approves the recommendation on January 20, the public will be invited to provide written submissions in advance of the February 10 meeting.
The operating agreement between the city and Scottsdale Aviation is set to expire on June 30, 2027, however a decision regarding termination or extension needs to be made between June and December 2025 due to the expiration of the subsidy and termination rights as of December 31, 2025.
The airport was divested to the city from the federal government in 1997.