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The new FBO is massive and pristine, with 50,000 square feet of hangar space. Mike Reyno Photo
With a lack of hangar space and congestion problems affecting its operation at Pearson International Airport, the Chartright aircraft charter and management company began looking to expand elsewhere.
It looked around at regional airports and settled on Region of Waterloo International Airport, just outside the Ontario cities of Kitchener and Waterloo.
“When we found Kitchener we decided that it’s close enough to be viable,” said Adam Keller, president and CEO of Chartright, at the grand opening of the company’s new fixed-base operator facility.
“And then when we found this facility, that’s what did it for us. We understood that here’s an opportunity. We would go to Kitchener in any event, but the fact this facility is here … it just clicked for us right away.”
The airport is eager to grow and attract new tenants to its sprawling facility. Mike Reyno Photo
The new FBO is massive and pristine, with 50,000 square feet of hangar space, plus office space, fuelling and de-fuelling capability, a comfortable lounge and 120,000 litres of bulk fuel storage.
The company will also offer maintenance services at its Kitchener location and may move its AgustaWestland (now Leonardo) service centre there as well, said Keller.
“This airport’s got a great profile, great services, and they’re hungry,” said Keller. “They really want the business.”
The airport is eager to grow and attract new tenants to its sprawling facility. As previously reported, it will partner with Chartright to host the Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA)’s national convention in 2018.
Adam Keller, left, president and CEO of Chartright, addresses the crowd while Chris Wood, general manager of Region of Waterloo International Airport, looks on. Mike Reyno Photo
“I think their brand is recognizable across the country,” said Chris Wood, the airport’s general manager. “They’re a large player in the corporate market.
“We’re already the largest general aviation airport in Ontario. We want to become a bigger provider of corporate services, so this is a great step in that direction.”
CBAA president and CEO Rudy Toering attended the Chartright FBO opening on June 16, 2016, and said he thinks the airport will be a hub for business aviation in Southern Ontario.
“Many of the regional airports throughout Canada will start getting that type of exposure as well,” said Toering.
“I just have to thank Adam for having the vision to actually put this in place. They have the space in Pearson International. They’re doing good business there. They’re going to do good business here, but they also have facilities out in the west as well.
“Management companies within our organizations, side by side with our pure corporate flight departments, are what make our membership.”
Chartright is headquartered at Pearson but has multiple subsidiary bases, including in Vancouver, B.C., Calgary, Alta., Regina, Sask., and Timmins, Ont.
The CBAA convention may be an opportunity to showcase its capabilities, as well as the massive hangar, which Keller estimated can hold 12 Challenger jets at a time.
“I think we’re a reasonably well-known brand, particularly in this part of the world,” said Keller.
“But once we start dragging in people—visitors from the west and the east, I think we increase our profile.
“We are at six different bases across Canada. That may not be well-known, and any opportunity we have to expand that image, that’s good for us.”
