Taking aviation and logistics to new heights

Alberta is an ideal location for all aspects of the aviation industry. With excellent flying conditions, abundant land and wide-open spaces, Alberta is the ideal location to train pilots, especially as the global industry faces a labour shortage.

Alberta companies provide maintenance, repair, overhaul, and modification of military and commercial aircraft. This high-tech sub-sector produces various components, such as aircraft parts and engines.

The province is also a Canadian hub of corporate aviation. Alberta is home to 420 of Canada’s 1,900 registered business aviation aircraft. Business aviation is a major contributor to Alberta’s economy. Headquartered in Calgary, WestJet airlines has scheduled service to 100 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Europe.

Alberta is an emerging Canadian leader in this sector. Home to Canada’s only beyond-line of sight, restricted airspace, Alberta is a desirable place for companies to test remotely piloted aircraft systems technology.

To support the defence industry, Alberta companies are making and maintaining the Canadian Forces’ communications systems, software, specialized sensors, and other electronic components. The province is also leveraging its expertise in geomatics, imagining and instrumentation to advance aerospace-based geomatics and scientific research.

Alberta’s two international airports have significant full-freight aircraft cargo handling, consolidation and freight forwarding capabilities. They also offer some of the lowest operating costs, plenty of available warehouse space and a single hub location that specializes in receiving, transferring, storing, and distributing cargo.

Alberta’s aviation and logistics industry is intimately tied with its manufacturing sector. The Calgary and Edmonton airports are both designated as Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ), which allows the deferral of taxes and tariffs on goods, as well as value-added manufacturing to create Canadian labelled products.

The Edmonton International Airport is Canada’s largest airport by land area. The YYC Global Logistics Park is the Calgary Airport Authority’s newest trade development with 330 acres of land. Both airports have built out significant capacity to allow for Calgary and Edmonton to be North America hubs for manufacturing and distribution centres.

As the northern point of the CANAMEX corridor and home to two transcontinental rail carriers with intermodal terminals, Alberta is also an important ground transportation player. In fact, the province has the third largest general freight trucking industry in the country with over 3,622 trucking companies.

As a hub for artificial technology, robotics, machine learning and blockchain, startups are integrating these technologies within the province’s transport and logistics supply chain — leading to some innovative solutions.

The Alberta Aerospace and Technology Centre at EIA not only acts as an aerospace training hub, but also as a world-class technology centre. Current programs include remote operated vehicles, fuel and heating innovations, and managing wildlife with robots.

In Alberta, we’re always seeking to improve our environmental footprint across all sectors. This often leads to innovative solutions, like the Alberta Zero-Emissions Truck Electrification Collaboration (AZETEC) project. Led by the Alberta Motor Transport Association and funded through Emissions Reduction Alberta, AZTEC is demonstrating the use of hydrogen in fueling long-haul trucks. The project positions Alberta as global leader in the creation and use of low or zero-emission transportation fuel.

In 2021, Edmonton International Airport became the first airport in the world to join The Climate Pledge — committing to being carbon neutral by 2040.

Airport City Solar, the world’s largest airport solar farm will also be constructed and operational in 2022, generating power for airport distribution systems.