2025-12-16 20:20:32.256 +0000 UTC
CBC News: Flight Academy Boosts Medicine Hat Airport Traffic
<h3>Medicine Hat Regional Airport is one of the fastest growing in Canada by air traffic activity this quarter</h3><p><i>Reporter: Edi Ridder: CBC News · Posted: Dec 13, 2025 6:00 AM MST </i></p><p>Read the CBC online story here: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/medicine-hat-airport-surge-9.7010534">Flight academy boosts Medicine Hat airport traffic | CBC News</a></p><p>Watch the CBC news video story here: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.7016953">Medicine Hat airport sees boost in air traffic thanks to flight academy | CBC.ca</a></p><p>------------</p><p>Claire Courty is one of more than 50 high school students contributing to a surge in activity at the regional airport in Medicine Hat, Alta.</p><p>The 17-year-old says she has taken to the sky over southeast Alberta at least 20 times since the start of the year thanks to Prairie Rose public division’s flight school.</p><p>A partnership launched six years ago between the Dave Rozdeba South Alberta Flight Academy and Super T Aviation allows Courty and her peers to acquire their private pilot's licence along with their high school diploma.</p><p>That training, according to airport manager Logan Boyd, is a key contributor in positioning Medicine Hat Regional Airport as one of the fastest growing in Canada by air traffic activity this quarter.</p><p>The year-to-date number of takeoffs and landings on the Medicine Hat runway is 48 per cent higher compared to the 12 months prior, according to <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2024007-eng.htm">Statistics Canada figures</a>. </p><p>Records show there were 28,263 movements at Medicine Hat’s airport, up from 19,097 the previous year.</p><p>The high school academy is responsible for roughly a third of those movements, or about 4,700 flights, according to Super T Aviation director Doug Little.</p><p>And he said that's been steadily increasing.</p><p>Little added he expects the airport to fly past 30,000 movements during the next year due to more training opportunities, including with the flight academy.</p><p>Boyd also credited the increased activity to HALO Air Ambulance, an emergency response service based at the airport that flies a pair of helicopters across southeast Alberta, and fixed-wing patient transfer service CanWest Air.</p><h2>‘A lot of adrenaline’</h2><p>Courty, who is halfway through Grade 12, had her opening “discovery flight” in September 2023. A few months later, she took over the controls for the first time. </p><p>“It was really exciting. It was a lot of adrenaline,” Courty told CBC News from inside a workshop by the airport where students in her program are building a small plane.</p><p>The flight students spend a large part of their week at Prairie Rose’s new building by the airport, when they aren’t at their high school studying with everyone else. </p><p>Courty is on a fast track to become a commercial pilot, helped along by the academy she’ll graduate from next spring. That puts her ahead of many potential competitors for the price of $15,000 — half the cost of typical flight schools. </p><p>When it was first launched in 2019, the academy had only 11 students. That number has skyrocketed over the past few years to 51 in 2025.</p><p>Reagan Weeks, superintendent of Prairie Rose Public Schools, said students learn skills that can be used across the industry.</p><p>“That includes leadership, public speaking, chances to have mock interviews — that they're able to be successful candidates when out seeking employment,” said Weeks, who was key in developing the program.</p><p>“Also, once you have the confidence of being able to fly an airplane, you begin to develop that sense that, ‘Wow, if I put my mind to anything, I might be able to accomplish it.’”</p><p>She said a member of the inaugural academy class who graduated in 2021 was recently hired to be a commercial pilot for WestJet — a first for the academy.</p><h2>'Grow the sector'</h2><p>The boost in activity is welcome for an airport that has yet to return to the number of passengers it received prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p>There were approximately 33,000 passengers at YXH last year, according to the <a href="https://www.medicinehat.ca/media/vrrjlr1c/city-of-medicine-hat-annual-report-2024_online.pdf">City of Medicine Hat's 2024 annual report</a>, far below the airport's <a href="https://medicinehatnews.com/life/local-life/2024/08/15/municipal-matters-increasing-air-service-in-cities-like-medicine-hat-what-does-it-take/">pre-pandemic peak of about 75,000 in 2019</a>.</p><p>The airport offers one flight between Medicine Hat and Calgary daily through WestJet's Encore service, a far cry from the multiple carriers and several flights a day before the pandemic.</p><p>“The more activity we can show out here ... is only going to grow the sector and attract investment," said Boyd.</p><p>Premier Danielle Smith has <a href="https://medicinehatnews.com/news/local-news/2024/05/03/smith-eyes-incentives-to-entice-airlines-to-regional-airports/">previously said</a> building up regional and rural airports is an important part of <a href="https://chatnewstoday.ca/2024/05/02/alberta-premier-says-medicine-hat-has-potential-to-be-a-technology-hub/">Alberta’s transportation strategy</a>. </p><p>In 2024, her United Conservative government <a href="https://chatnewstoday.ca/2024/06/04/medicine-hat-saves-cash-on-airport-master-plan-after-alberta-grants/">provided Medicine Hat’s airport with $275,000</a> in grants to fund an ongoing master plan that could determine future expansion.</p><p>Selena McLean-Moore, director of Medicine Hat's economic development team, described the flight academy as “a significant economic enabler” for the region.</p><p>“Through the training, they are able to support a pipeline of workforce that could impact our defence and aerospace industry in southeast Alberta,” she said.</p>
