Flight paths back to normal with Saskatoon airport runway reopening

Saskatoon’s main runway is now open after two summers of construction and restoration, but it doesn’t mean any changes for travellers using the airport.

Runways are required to be resurfaced approximately every 25 years, which was the reason the primary runway was closed to air traffic since the summer of 2022. That meant the secondary runway was used during that time.

According to Stephen Maybury, CEO and President of the Saskatoon Airport, there was a seamless transition to the secondary runway during the work. As of Tuesday, a transition occurred back to the main runway.

“It will change it back to normal, and as a primary runway, the majority of the traffic will use this runway, but we’ll still use the secondary runway,” Maybury told CTV News.

The main difference will be felt by those living in Saskatoon’s western most communities which was overtop of the secondary runway’s flight path. That ran north-south.

“That’s why certain communities would see more traffic than previous, and we thank them for their patience in terms of that.

As was the case before construction, now the flight path will go over neighbourhoods in the northeast like Lawson Heights.

Maybury admits they heard feedback from community members who contacted them about the changed flight patterns over the past two years. He stopped short of saying there were complaints from the public about airplane noise.

The renovations included adding almost five kilometres of drainage lines, as well as paving and new more advanced lighting.

“There’s runway-edge lighting and new approach lighting at each end of the runway,” he says.

That lighting is more environmentally sound with LED bulbs used.

The total cost of the project was $16,000,000. Half of that was covered by the federal government. According to Maybury, the project's cost came in on target.