Moosomin Airport expansion making a difference
Air Ambulance regularly serving the area since new 5,000 foot paved runway was added
January 12, 2026, 1:14 pm
Ashley Bochek
Jeff St Onge and Schalk van der Merwe worked together in accomplishing their collective dream of establishing a new, operational airport in the Moosomin area over the past few years.
The 5,000-foot runway just northeast of town was recently paved two summers ago and has been life changing for the areas health care system and has had an overall positive impact on the community and surrounding area.
“It was paved about two summers ago,” St Onge explained. “So, it has been open for about a year and a half and it has been going wonderful. It is exceeding our expectations.
“At the moment we are working toward shifting the airport from constructing it to operating the airport. That is our biggest focus at the moment. We are looking at the infrastructure, fuel sales, and a possible terminal building. We are doing temporary things at the moment until we come up with a plan for future operations.”
Van der Merwe explains the beginning ideas for the airport. “Jeff St. Onge and myself were the ones started the initial fundraising for the airport. We originally thought that we could maybe get some lights for the old airport on the runway then things escalated from there. We talked to some other people and the project just kept becoming bigger. So, then we thought, ‘Why don’t we pave the runway and paint some lines on?’ So many people from all over came onboard and offered their support. Both provincial and local governments supported, and the private donations started coming in and it just continued to grow from there to the success story it is today.”
There was a unique funding model for the $10.6 million Moosomin airport expansion, with the provincial government covering a quarter of the cost, Nutrien Potash covering a quarter, local governments covering a quarter, and local businesses raising a quarter.
St Onge regularly visits the airport to clear the runway for incoming flights.
“I am retired and live three miles from the airport, so I go out regularly.
Pilots often phone wanting a runway condition report. So I will go out, look at it, and let them know. In the mornings, we do some clean up and clearing of the snow. I make sure it is ready for them so there is not going to be a problem. I am out there almost daily to check the runway. If the weather is beautiful, I don’t have to, but some nights I also go out and do a little bit of clean up if it is blowing.”
Volunteers offering help
St Onge says he has been contacted by local community members offering their time to help service the airport.
“We are also starting to get more volunteers which is amazing. Randy Fyke had let us know that he would like to volunteer his time. He and I spent some time out there learning some equipment and what to look after. So, he will cover me when I am gone. Trent McMillan has also volunteered his time and has come out several times. That is another thing about the area here—neither of these guys fly. They are not pilots—they are community-minded people who just want to do their part.”
Lifesaving flights
On an average of once a month, Saskatchewan Air Ambulance is landing at the Moosomin Airport for patient care in the area.
“Air Ambulance has been in 12 times at the Moosomin Airport,” said Van der Merwe. “About once a month. Then, we’ve also had STARS in about 11 times. I think it is very important to emphasize the fact that the airport is obviously part of a tiered medical transport system because the system as a whole—Air Ambulance, STARS, road transportation—is bigger than the sum of its parts. If we didn’t have road transport to get our patients to their destinations or even to get them to the aircraft or if we didn’t have the option of Air Ambulance or STARS—at the end of the day people got to the care, they needed in the time it was needed. Two of our patients were flown directly to Edmonton which a year ago would have been a significant undertaking. It is really important. The airport was obviously a huge air asset, but our other assets are equally important.”
Airport complements local health care
St Onge says that the Moosomin Airport Expansion was important to complement the local health care services.
“I had a vision of what it would be and it has been more than what my vision was,” he said. “I think we have a top-notch medical team in Moosomin. When they are looking after you and it is beyond what they can do and you need more specialized doctors or equipment then we have to leave this town and the three ways to leave the town are by ground ambulance, STARS, and the Saskatchewan Air Ambulance so the only people that leave town are the ones who need medical capabilities beyond what we can offer and they cover a lot of bases already, but when a case like that comes we want to have all three options available, and the one that has surprised me and has warmed my heart the most is when Saskatchewan Air Ambulance gets a patient safely to where they need to go.
“When they come in it means the roads are closed and icy conditions in the air. That eliminates ground ambulance, when there is ice in the air it is a lot harder for a helicopter to come in because they don’t have the onboard equipment to handle de-icing, whereas the Air Ambulance does. They do something called FIKI (Flight into Known Icing) and that means they have the equipment to fly into known icing situations.
“We had a situation where it was icy out and the person needing care, their only way out of the town was with Air Ambulance and it just makes you think ‘Wow’ it was worth everything we did. We have opened up the time as well the option to directly fly Moosomin to Edmonton for patient care, so I am just over the top and so excited with what we have available in Moosomin. It is amazing.”
Impact on business community
Van der Merwe explains the positive influence the airport offers for the surrounding business area.
“Another major part the airport offers is the impact the airport has on our business community in Moosomin and the surrounding area. The businesses that have multiple branches where the CEOs and owners of the companies can now come basically from anywhere in world to visit branches and then be back in a decent time during the workday. When you ask very successful entrepreneurs what their most valuable asset is, they say their time. So, the airport is offering them more of their time. It is such a time saver, and it is the same for health care. It is really about timeliness—getting people to the care they need in a timely fashion.”
Daily activity
The Moosomin Airport sees aircraft every day utilizing the runway and airport.
“At least once a day the airport is being used because we have the GPS landing system, the air force will use it as practice,” explains Van der Merwe. “They will practice to land with their instruments because we have the GPS landing. We see pilots on training flights that will come out here from Virden, Brandon, Regina and they don’t necessarily land, but they use the airport as a practice area. That exposes the town and the area to more people.”
Future upgrades
St Onge explains the committees’ future stages in adding to the airport.
“What an airport should have is an RNAV which is an area navigation. It goes in the CFS (Canadian Flight Supplement) and that tells pilots how to fly in using all of their equipment such as onboard GPS, flight management systems, so we have got that in place. We have had that in place before we had pavement because there is up to a two year wait on getting that system installed. It allows pilots to fly all the way down to 447-feet and then if they can’t see the runway they have to forfeit at that point. That is the level of accuracy that gives them using weather from Yorkton and surrounding areas.
“Next, we need to get an AWAS (Automated Weather Observation System) and that will give pilots local weather, so between an RNAV and an AWAS they can come down to 250 feet, so if it is cloudy and overcast, they can bring their plane down an additional 200-feet in effort to see the runway and if they see it then they can continue to land. We do have to put that into in place because there have been times in the last year and a half where that would have been valuable and would have made a difference with a plane coming in.
“We also need to be able to sell fuel. We have a lot of people doing long distance trips and they will phone asking if we have fuel available and we do have fuel, but it is at our old site. So, the odd time somebody will have an airplane that we call a ‘pavement princess’ they don’t leave the pavement so they can’t fuel up in Moosomin because you have to go on gravel to get to it or if they want jet fuel, we don’t have jet fuel available.
“The other thing we need for people is when they land, they need washrooms or a place to wait for their next flight. This year, Gary Bonkowski had a mobile trailer and loaned it to us so we have it set up and have washroom facilities there. We also need equipment to keep the runway clean. Rocky Mountain Equipment has donated the power equipment. We purchased a snow blower, and we have a skidsteer and a tractor and a small broom. We need a de-icer for runway de-icing, about a 22-foot sprayer and we are just in the process of finishing that now within about a month or so. The one other thing we need after that is a runway broom. The ones they have for an airport are about 14 feet wide and they spin at a higher RPM, and you pull it at about 40km/h up and down the runway to clear it off.”
Van der Merwe adds, “Over the winter months our primary goal is to make sure that we keep the airport open because of all the snow and that is always a challenge in the winter months, but we have had some great partners all around in helping us do this project. Rocky Mountain Equipment has been generous with supplying us with equipment. The RM of Moosomin has been really instrumental in helping us getting the snow off on days where there have been big snowfalls. We have been working diligently at getting the AWAS like Jeff said. We’ve had significant donations for the AWAS that we have posted on our Facebook page and so far, have up to $25,000 donated to us.”
Recent upgrades
Van der Merwe says they have recently added new lighted windsocks at the airport.
“Another important improvement we’ve made is getting some lighted windsocks up. The lighted ones are very important for night landing and especially at this time of year. That was a huge improvement for our airport and pilots who land there. We still are in the process of getting the final electrical stuff done. There is still lots to work on to make it even better.”
Exceeds Expectations
Van der Merwe says the airport exceeds all expectations St Onge along with himself had in the early planning stages.
“In our wildest dreams we didn’t think it would be this successful and amazing. When we started off and originally thought of a $2 million project, but it kept growing into a $12 million project, so this just exceeded our wildest dreams. The amount of success that we’ve had we could never have accomplished on our own, Jeff and I. We see how amazing this is and it is a testimony to people working together for the greater good.”
Community support
The Moosomin Airport committee is overwhelmed and thankful for the continuous community support. “It never ceases to amaze me when people and organizations across the area work together, the amount of success we can create,” Van der Merwe said. “
You look at the airport and it has seen support across provincial and municipal borders, from the provincial government, towns, RMs, private sector investments—Nutrien Mine gave us a significant donation, IJack a local company in town also gave us a significant donation, Air Andrew out of Virden—all of those are our big contributors. It just shows you when people get together for a cause and support it there is really no end to what you can do.”
St Onge adds, “We are working hard at moving forward and putting the infrastructure in place to make it a sustainable airport. I am just so grateful for everything that ever comes to the airport. Everything that happens is needed. It is really hard for me to express how grateful I am for everything right from the volunteer time people put in, the effort, time, to the million-dollar donations, every one of them is needed and appreciated.”
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