'Everyone benefits by it': New airport terminal building coming to Yorkton

Yorkton, Sask. -

Serving as a highway in the sky for the city, a brand new airport terminal building is expected to be built in Yorkton by March 2025.

The City of Yorkton is investing $2.3 million into the replacement project. Private and commercial airplanes have utilized the existing terminal since 1941.

"It's a huge improvement to the City of Yorkton to have that property maintained because that will only continue to grow,” Yorkton Mayor Mitch Hippsley told CTV.

“As we see the businesses expanding out there, it's becoming more and more of a hub for the aircraft industry."

With about 1,000 flights coming into the city per month, Hippsley said every business that flies in is investing into the community’s future.

“Many of the businesses that are here are able to come here because we have an airport,” he added.

“It’s normal for a plane to land in the morning and spend two or three hours in the City of Yorkton doing business and then head back to where they came from, whether it be Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver or Calgary.”

The new space will provide a pilot lounge, reception desk, six leasable office spaces –four already being contracted – an airport superintended office, runway electrical systems and other amenities. The existing terminal will continue to be of use until the new 2,277 square feet building is completed.

Hippsley said councils before his time have been working towards the replacement project due to it being a valuable service to Yorkton’s business community.

“Usually these are the executive people [who are flying in] that build the lands and the stores,” he explained.

“With that, they bring their entourage of opportunities for employment, everyone benefits by it. These are the decision makers so they need our facilities that way.”

The City of Yorkton Airport from 2015. (Sierra D'Souza Butts / CTV News)

Currently, there are six different businesses located within the area of the airport that employs about 60 people.

One business who has been there for over 30 years said they are continuously serving clients who require aviation maintenance.

"There's other communities in Saskatchewan that are actually thinking of decommissioning their airport, building a terminal building is not even on their top of mind,” said Cheryl Denesowych, Yorkton aircraft service owner and manager.1

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“They’re wondering whether to even keep the airport. This is proof that Yorkton understands how important the airport is to the larger business community, not just Yorkton, Mosaic flies into here, Louis Dreyfus, Richardson, there's a lot of business activity that happens in the city of Yorkton because we have an airport."

As a frequent flyer herself, Denesowych said an airport is usually the first impression people get of the city they are working with.

“When my husband and I would fly to locations, when you walk into the community's terminal building, you get an essence of their pride and you are always moved by the very nice terminal buildings,” she said.

With demolition expected to start in the beginning of spring, Hippsley said residents can keep up with the building of the project through the city’s website.

“As the development of the building is going on, we’re going to be following up on that live so people can actually watch it be demolished and then built up. It will be more of an entertainment piece to see how quickly things come along.”