North Battleford's Cameron McIntosh Airport is in line for provincial funding to improve its tarmac.
Last week the provincial government announced $37,500 for major crack repairs at the airport.
The grant was announced by Highways and Infrastructure Minister Jim Reiter May 6. North Battleford is one of 11 airports sharing $700,000 in funding for runway repairs and other improvements, as part of a cost-shared airport infrastructure program.
Reiter said in a news release that the province's investment for this grant program has gone up by 40 per cent.
"Community airports are important to our economy as they are used by the energy and mining sectors and also provide vital air ambulance service to Saskatchewan residents," said Reiter in a statement.
The City of North Battleford has welcomed the funding, as repairing the runways at the airport has been something the city had been planning to do for some time.
"Some of the tarmac at Cameron McIntosh Airport is in bad shape," said City Marketing and Communications Co-ordinator Mike Halstead.
"It's very imperative that our tarmacs and runways are in excellent condition," said Halstead.
This is cost-shared infrastructure funding, he said, with the City matching the provincial total. Now that the provincial funding is in place, Halstead said the City hopes to move ahead and get work under way "as soon as possible."
Halstead noted the airport is a hub of activity due to its use by the Air Cadets, sprayers, courier services and occasional corporate Learjets flying in.
"So there is always something happening."
A year ago, work was done on the air terminal itself to repair and repaint the interior of the building and get it back to working order.
