FedNor is providing the Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corp., with $660,000 to construct a new building that will allow for the expansion of JD Aero. The funding is part of a $2-million project. The Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corp. will inject $200,000 into the project and the remainder comes from other funding partners, said Airport CEO Terry Bos. JD Aero has been expanding its operations at the Sault Ste. Marie Airport since it began there about a decade ago. The new 11,250-square-foot building will accommodate new growth for JD Aero, which specializes in maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft. It will be added to the 81,000-square-foot space JD Aero currently operates from. The building will provide additional space for equipment, parts and materials, which will open the hangar floor area and allow the company to expand its maintenance market with larger jets, said MP Terry Sheehan, who made the announcement. Construction, expected to begin in the coming weeks, should be completed by spring. About 15 construction jobs will be created throughout the development phase, Sheehan said. Sheehan said collaboration for projects like this one – and others that have resulted in funding for the airport – is critical to economic development and the safety of the airport. “The Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corp., and JD Aero have both received notoriety around the world and that’s because they’re located here, and people see aircraft from around the world and comment on it,” he said. “I think you’ll see a lot more collaboration and projects come to fruition because of the continued relationships between the private and public sector.” JD Aero leases space at the airport, and its growth is beyond what Bos had ever envisioned when the company launched its operations in Sault Ste. Marie. “I expected them to be one hanger forever. Not in my wildest dreams did I think we’d see the growth that we’ve seen,” he said. “Look at them now. Two hangers and extra space and who knows what the future brings.” The expansion “is huge for us,” Bos told The Sault Star following the announcement. “They’re bringing in a lot of aircraft, which we don’t have a lot of moving around right now.” Commercial flights are down to about 72 per cent of levels pre-pandemic and passenger flights are hovering around 75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Bos said the expansion is not only great news for JD Aero and their operations, but to the airport as well, because it means the company will be continuing and growing its operations in the long haul. “It helps me sleep at night knowing we have them here for a long time,” Bos said. Julian Chin, JD Aero’s operations manager, said the expansion allows the company to grow its maintenance of the Embraer 175 Jet, a passenger plane that holds between 70-100 people. Expansion to this type of aircraft began about one year ago, and is continuing, Chin added. Chin said about a dozen of the jets have moved through the facility but more space is needed to keep parts and equipment inside, given Sault Ste. Marie’s weather. The Embraer 175 jet is becoming a more popular aircraft that JD Aero’s clients are moving towards and servicing needs to be done. Traditionally, the maintenance company has specialized in the Dash 8 400’s, a 74-seater passenger aircraft, which it still services. “It looks like we’ll be moving forward to have a mixture of this particular platform,” he said. Chin said JD Aero is always looking for new aviation maintenance staff but, like many industries, there is currently a shortage of workers. Current staff numbers are hovering around 100 and while the company would like to hire more staff, Chin wouldn’t provide specifics on how many more, saying the numbers must be weighed against operational requirements and growth projections. Awarded value not released for publication.