228 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 10 you also have the work that we’re doing around the clean technology sector.” Plus, with one firm and field supporting another, it stitches together a kind of vibrant economic tapestry or ecosystem, as Winterstein notes. “There are the big firms that draw the billion-dollar investments,” he says, “but then you have all the firms that support those organizations. Some of them are smaller and create pieces of the puzzle, but again, access to the rest of the world is a critical piece for them as part of a supply chain. We’re very excited to see how that unfolds.” Making sure the airport is available—with available land and available space to lease to companies—is also crucial, Winterstein notes. What of the future? It’s all about utilizing the airport as the great economic engine that it is, supporting existing businesses, and helping create new ones by showing just how attractive and business-friendly Kingston truly is, as Winterstein declares. “I think,” he says, “the two main priorities that we’ve got to hear on the airline side of things will be to attract a connecting service back to Kingston, so that we can support the existing and new businesses and the traveling public, through the airport. That will be priority number one on that front. Priority number two would be to get service into the northside of our airport so that we’re able to attract new businesses in the future.” Desjardins shares this assessment. “I can’t disagree at all with Aron,” he observes. “I would say, short term, it’s about getting that scheduled service back. In the medium term, it’s about building the business of the airport more broadly, making sure that we are looking at a new hangar that will be built to serve our clients.” “Again,” he adds, “from the City’s perspective,
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