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Windsor
Airport in the 21st Century
Celebrating
75 - In Style!
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Anniversary Committee
co-chairs Larry Bannon and Ron Holden |
One
hundred years after the Wright brothers’ successful
first flight at Kitty Hawk, special commemorative events have
been planned at Kitty Hawk to mark the anniversary of this
significant event. To celebrate Windsor Airport’s own
milestone, the Windsor Airport 75th Anniversary Committee,
co-chaired by Larry Bannon and Ron Holden,
has planned a number of events for the first weekend in September
including a dinner dance with live swing music in the newly
painted hangar. The hangar is now home to the Canadian Historical
Aircraft Association, which is hosting a vintage air show
that same weekend including bi-planes and Harvard trainers.
At least 40 vintage planes gathering in Detroit will fly over
the airport at the start of their U.S. tour. In August, the
airport reverted to its original name Walker Airport for a
month (see photo at right).
Bill Baker, Windsor
Airport’s Business Development and Marketing
Manager, stands
in front of a 1941 Boeing Stearman bi-plane in
the Canadian Historical Aircraft Association’s
hangar at Windsor Airport. |
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Billed
as the “New Windsor Airport (YQG) – the Windsor-Detroit
Hassle-Free Alternative airport” on their official website,
the airport is located in Canada’s largest catchment
market of over 5 million people within 65 km (40 miles). Recognized
as an important regional airport, YQG was incorporated into
the national portfolio of airports in 1967.
Under
the federal government’s National Airports Policy, the
ownership of YQG was transferred to the City of Windsor and
operation of the airport was awarded to Serco Aviation Services
Inc. under a long-term agreement. Windsor Airport will soon
offer an expanded runway of 9000 feet, which will provide
a significant opportunity for airlines to capitalize on a
large catchment market from the convenience of this uncongested
airport. Currently the airport offers daily scheduled passenger
service by Air Canada Regional to Toronto’s Lester B.
Pearson with connections to virtually anywhere.
Windsor
Airport Factoids:
• Owned by the City
of Windsor and privately operated by Serco Aviation Services.
• Aggressively developing new routes in the domestic,
transborder and charter markets.
• Set to be
a leading passenger airport in Southwestern Ontario.
• Within easy reach of Essex County, Southwestern
Ontario, and the Windsor & Detroit Market.
•
Open every day with available services that include: air
traffic control, emergency response services, airfield
maintenance, ground handling, and Canada Customs inspection
services.
• Soon to offer 9,000 foot main runway.
• Soon completing resurfacing of the main runway
07-25. |
Labour
of Love: The home of the Canadian Historical Aircraft
Association is a Windsor Airport hangar. Pictured above are
a couple of the vintage planes that graced the hangar in August
of this year. The Association’s current major project
is the restoration of the recovered wreckage of a Canadian
MK 35 Mosquito Bomber aircraft. The group hopes to have it
finished in 2004.
Click
here to go the next story in Issue #37.
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