The Edmonton International Airport is working to attract visitors and residents to explore its campus, and also to help local companies to get their products and services to larger markets.
"Our core business is being an airport and getting people to and from where they want to go, but we're really leveraging the other assets that we have to provide services and activities … and drive people to come and maybe spend some more time at the airport over and above just driving in to take a plane headed wherever they might be going," Raelyn Kruitbosch, director of real estate and property management at the airport, told Taproot.
Kruitbosch said YEG has been an "airport city" or "aerotropolis" for more than 15 years. The airport's footprint is nearly 7,000 acres, thanks to the prairie geography and distance from Edmonton, so it has plenty of room for warehouse, distribution, manufacturing, and logistics companies, as well as entertainment and hospitality businesses. Kruitbosch said YEG is one of two airport cities in Canada — the other is another prairie city, Winnipeg.
The airport is focusing on four "development clusters" — distribution logistics, aviation and technology, light industrial, and commercial development. "We're looking at all different clusters of development and taking advantage of the land that we have … so that we're creating a place where travellers can stay," Kruitbosch said. "They can play here, they can shop here, and they can use it as a launching point to explore Edmonton as a region."
"It doesn't necessarily have to be that you fly in and leave the airport right away. You could stay here and do some of those things, even land and create the airport as your home base as well."
There's the Premium Outlet Collection YEG and Costco Wholesale on the premises. There's a golf course, race tracks for both cars and horses, and a casino. YEG offers a dedicated shuttle bus to move visitors around the campus, and even encourages visitors to "make exploring Airport City the reason for (their) trip."
But the airport isn't only trying to attract tourists. The region's population south of Anthony Henday Drive is growing, with residential construction permits reaching new highs in the region.
"The catchment area, I guess you would say, for some of these services and capabilities is definitely Edmonton, Leduc, Beaumont, Devon, that whole region, because at the end of the day, airports are an economic driver for the whole region that they operate in," Kruitbosch said.
The airport also houses what Kruitbosch calls a living lab, where it provides incubator space to local startups through the Alberta Aerospace and Technology Centre.
The Edmonton International Airport looks to attract visitors to explore its campus. (Edmonton International Airport)
One of those companies is Indigenous Box, a corporate gifting startup founded by Mallory Yawnghwe. Indigenous Box has reached customers in 27 countries and can be found in many airports across Canada and the United States. "They're reaching customers on a large scale, and really just working through the opportunities that we've been able to help with, with getting some word out there," Kruitbosch said.
Another is Wild + Pine, a company that completes nature-based carbon removal projects by restoring forests on degraded land. The company has a bioprism, or greenhouse, on the airport lands that allows it to grow seedlings for any climate, Kruitbosch said.
The centre started with more of an aerospace focus with training simulators from Canadian North and Canadian Helicopters, but it shifted to a more general focus once the simulators were moved to their own spaces on the campus.