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The province is spending more than $1.6 million to improve safety and expand traffic at the Virden Regional Airport.

“This is an important investment that will encourage regional development and job creation in Westman,” Northern and Municipal Relations Minister Glen Simard said on Monday.

A portion of the $1,650,000 from the province will go toward a better weather information system for pilots.

“It’s a big deal,” said Scott Andrew, who is a pilot at the flight school Air Andrew in Virden. “For guys that aren’t familiar with the area, it’s (important). Every airport should have one.”

Andrew said the information from the AWOS is not only helpful, it makes flying safer.

“The more information you have, the safer it is,” he said.

Virden’s R.J. (Bob) Andrew Field Regional Aerodrome is about to receive an upgrade that will mean more planes and larger aircraft can use the airport for more days of the year. The improvements will also mean that medical flights will be better served in the area.

The entire upgrade is budgeted for $8.357 million. The project plan is in three phases, the first being the imminent move of four hangars from the north side of the runway to a south location to allow for a larger runway.

The project is before the provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs with a request of $4.67 million from the province. Further funding toward the $8.357M will come from the Town of Virden and from other fundraising. Air Andrew Ltd. a family business run out of the Virden airport, recently donated $2.5 million to the project.

Bruce Dunning, a town councillor and appointee on Virden's airport commission, said improvements could draw more corporate flights from companies in the agriculture and oil sectors, as well as those in the investment and insurance industries.

"What we're seeing more and more … now is they're getting bigger planes in, to where they can't land here," Dunning said.

"They have to land in Brandon and then catch rides out, so that's one of the reasons we're looking at upgrading this airport." 

Dunning said the town is considering plans to widen and lengthen the runway in order to accommodate the larger aircraft. The town wants to do the work in phases, but in total it could cost more than $7 million.

Virden has applied for funding through a provincial infrastructure development program, but has already received a $2.5-million commitment from Scott Andrew and his brother, Brock, of Air Andrew.

A major donation has been made to the Moosomin Airport Expansion. Air Andrew donated $200,000 to the project last week.

Scott Andrew says they’re excited for the future ahead for the Moosomin Airport and for this area. “Moosomin has been a community that the Andrew family has been involved with since 1995,” Andrew said.

“Facilities like this for smaller communities require infrastructure. We were able to do a lot of things out of Virden whether it was the insurance brokerage business or our telecommunications company, and one of the key components there is the airport and facility, so I look at this for Moosomin as required infrastructure. I am pretty sure that the next generation of entrepreneurs will utilize the facility and be able to bring some of that success to rural Saskatchewan and Manitoba.”

Yu Kotaki left his home in Japan in search of a career as a pilot, but he never imagined the journey would take him to a small airport in southwestern Manitoba.

"I want to try for working in the major airlines like WestJet and Air Canada in the near future," the 25-year-old said. "That's my end goal."

The R.J. (Bob) Andrew Field Regional Aerodrome in the town of Virden is already home to an aviation school — where Kotaki works as an instructor — and hosts several hundred flights each year.