The Regina Airport Authority welcomed its newest tenant on Friday, opening a new hangar that belongs to Kreos Aviation.
The private business airline company is headquartered in Saskatoon.
The hangar is 36,000 square feet in size and is large enough to house a Boeing 737, though it would be a tight fit, Kreos COO Wes Ramsay said.
“This allows more flexibility for flying customers to get into more difficult places that the bigger airlines like WestJet can’t get into,” he said, using Billings, Mont. as an example.
Regina to Billings would be about a 45-minute flight using Kreos, he said.
The company has four aircraft, all stored in Saskatoon. But Ramsay said Kreos plans to expand its fleet and store planes at its Regina hangar.
Kreos is leasing the land from the Regina Airport Authority.
YQR CEO James Bogusz said that lease money will be reinvested back into the airport.
“It does help us offset some of those charges that we need to make,” he said, noting it’ll keep costs down for travellers who use the larger commercial airlines at the airport.
The money can also be used for things like “air service development, (or) marketing to airlines to bring in service, like the U.S. flight we’ve been pursuing,” he said.