Officials at Region of Waterloo International Airport are looking for suggestions on what role the airport should play over the next 20 years – not only within Waterloo Region, but also within the bigger picture of southern Ontario’s airports.
Final touches are being put on the region’s master plan for the next two decades.
Before that can happen, the airport is holding a public consultation centre Thursday at the Waterloo Region Museum on Huron Road in Kitchener, from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Feedback will also be solicited online on Thursday.
The master plan is expected to be finalized and given to regional councillors for approval in early 2017.
It is possible that Pearson Airport will have reached its maximum capacity by the end of the 20-year period, meaning the master plan could address whether Waterloo Region’s airport should try and expand to attract some of the flights that would otherwise go there.
According to airport officials, people living within 35 kilometres of Region of Waterloo International Airport take two million trips by air per year.
Only four per cent of those trips are to or from Waterloo Region directly, compared to 87 per cent which use Pearson.
Additionally, about 31 per cent of Region of Waterloo International Airport passengers don’t live within the 35-kilometre zone.
