Muskoka Airport

6 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 7 during COVID,” he added. “We actually saw an influx of people into Muskoka, not the opposite. What you had in Ontario during COVID were people who felt safer, more comfortable living in Muskoka if they had the option to do that. The district actually saw a substantial increase in our permanent population during COVID.” However, Lehman noted, there was a drop in tourist-related airport traffic late last year. This was, he said: “Partly due to the economy, partly we believe, as well, people choosing to travel internationally, because they were finally able to do that. You know, during COVID, we had a lot of local tourism where people would get in their cars when they could, drive to a place like Muskoka or choose to spend their holidays in a nearby district in Ontario, like Muskoka. But then, once they have the opportunity to travel internationally, that’s where they chose to spend their travel dollars in 2022. So we did see a dip over the last 12 months.” But thankfully, Lehman added, this year’s numbers look much better. And O’Connor said the airport’s focus this year is on business development, both commercially and recreationally, and community involvement. “And we are working on getting scheduled service back in here,” he said. “Those are the top three priorities right now.” PREFERRED VENDOR/PARTNER n Icarus Aviation www.iaero.ca ICARUS Aerospace Services Inc. is a Transport Canada, F.A.A. and EASA approved design, certification and manufacturing organization that specializes in aircraft modifications, engineering services, special mission aircraft conversions, logistics support and integrated kit solutions. Facilities are located in Toronto. Contact us: info@iaero.ca for more information. n Tetra Tech Canada Inc www.tetratech.com “There’s no greater champions for the airport as a location to do business,” Lehman said, “so it’s easy for us, because we can bring people to the facility, introduce them to other people they’ll be working with, and I think that’s a real competitive advantage for airports like Muskoka. When we’re talking to a business about establishing themselves or growing at the airport, they are dealing with the people they will deal with directly day in and day out. The district wishes to give the airport more ability and agility to work with businesses and to meet their needs. We are moving towards what’s called a municipal services corporation to the airport, which actually will allow even more agility for the airport in terms of what it’s able to control and how it’s able to work with a business to meet their needs at the airport.” “It was really interesting, what happened