TEN-YEAR LEASE
Celtic Air Services taking over Port Hawkesbury Airport.
Starting on Saturday, the Port Hawkesbury Airport will have a new operating company from the private sector.
The airport has seen a jump in traffic in recent years, partly due to tourists looking to take advantage of the Cabot Cliffs and Cabot Links golf courses in Inverness.
Celtic Air Services Limited, a local airport services company that is taking over operational duties, has already begun construction on an executive lounge that will be completed in August, hired five new employees and plans to upgrade fuel services in the near future.
President of Celtic Air Services Limited, David Morgan, said the goal is to accommodate the significant growth the airport has experienced in the last five years, because of the increase in private jets landing at the airport.
“Our plan is to increase the level of service at the airport to a concierge type service. The airport has changed from a small landing strip with a couple of flight school planes based there to more of an executive jet airport,” Morgan said “Over the last five years traffic has increased 4,000 per cent, which is just a huge number — (it’s) unheard of.”
Morgan said along with the new executive lounge there are other upgrades at the airport, including an airport hangar that will be built in the near future.
“We’re putting in a hangar facility to keep the aircraft covered up and out of the weather. We put equipment — they call it ground service equipment, tractors and air conditioning carts and stuff like that, (that) you’d see at any major airport,” said Morgan.
The company has signed a 10-year lease to operate the facility. The Port Hawkesbury Airport is currently managed through an intermunicipal committee with
members from the Town of Port Hawkesbury, the Municipality of the County of Inverness and the Municipality of the County of Richmond.
Port Hawkesbury Deputy Mayor Trevor Boudreau said having a private sector company operating the airport is beneficial for the Town of Port Hawkesbury, its municipality and tourists alike.
“You want people whose focus is dealing with something like this. This allows us to focus on what a city council should be focusing on,” said Boudreau. “It’s a benefit to us, the residents and people coming to Cape Breton; it’s another avenue to support local businesses.”
The five recently hired employees are a part of the company’s startup team for the airport. Some employees are already training for their new positions that include client experience co-ordinators and ground-handling staff.
Morgan said the municipalities that were previously operating the airport ran it successfully, but Celtic Services Limited is looking to expand the airport over the next 10 years, to keep up with an increase in traffic.
“The folks who have been looking after it (Port Hawkesbury Airport) for the town have done an amazing job with the resources they had.
For us, we’re just taking it to the next level,” said Morgan.
Morgan said another part of the company’s plan is to make Cape Breton more accessible for people who are coming to the island from the Port Hawkesbury Airport.
“We’re going to have customer service folks there who act as concierges that arrange everything from your airplane details and customs clearance and your fuel and stuff to your hotel accommodations or dinner reservations. Basically we’re going to roll out the red carpet and open up the rest of the island.”