What's Next for the Okotoks Air Ranch Airport?

What happens to a community when a beloved local landmark is given a second life? 

For years, many Okotokians worried that the Okotoks Air Ranch Airport (CFX2) might disappear into yet another housing development. 

Carlin Lutzer sits down with airport manager Rob Grover, a lifelong aviator who soloed on this very field back in 2003, to explore the new ownership group's exciting vision for the airport's future. 

From terminal renovations and a future restaurant to charter flights, hangars, and community fly-in events, this conversation celebrates a piece of Okotoks that residents see every day but know very little about. 

It's a warm, insightful look at how one local asset connects our community to the wider world and why its revival matters to everyone who loves life in Okotoks.

Listen For:

2:54 How did Rob Grover's aviation journey lead him to Okotoks?

4:08 What is the new vision for the Okotoks Air Ranch Airport?

5:34 Which aircraft and charter flights already land in Okotoks?

7:19 Could a restaurant be coming to the Okotoks air ranch?

11:17 How can the airport connect pilots with local Okotoks businesses?

Guest: Rob Grover, Airport Manager, Okotoks Air Ranch Airport (CFX2)

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Transcript

Announcer (00:00):

Welcome to the Okotoks Podcast where the stories are as solid as the Big Rock, sponsored by Carlin Lutzer Real Estate.

Carlin Lutzer (00:20):

Today on the podcast for many people in our community, it came as a huge relief to learn that Okotoks Air Ranch Airport CFX2 had been purchased by a new ownership group. There had been plenty of speculation over the years about what the future might hold for this unique piece of our community and many residents were concerned it could eventually become just another housing development. Instead, the airport remains an airport and the new ownership group has some exciting plans for its future. Today we're joined by airport manager Rob Grover to talk about the vision for CFX2, why this airport is such an important asset to our region and why pilots, aviation enthusiasts, and the broader community can expect in the years ahead. Whether you are an aviation buff or someone who's simply curious about what happens behind the gates of the air ranch, this conversation offers a fascinating look at a piece of okotoks that many people see every day but know very little about.

(01:23):

Here's my conversation with Rob. Well, Rob, thank you so much for joining me today.

Rob Grover (01:28):

Welcome.

Carlin Lutzer (01:29):

Yes, and I've been after you guys for a while because I think many Okotokians are very excited to hear what's in store for the Air Ranch Airport. And your official title is the manager of Air Ranch Airport?

Rob Grover (01:46):

Yeah, the airport manager. Yeah.

Carlin Lutzer (01:47):

Yeah, right on. And how long have you been the official manager for?

Rob Grover (01:53):

Well, since the new owner took it over last October.

Carlin Lutzer (01:57):

Okay. Okay, for sure. No, and that as I alluded to earlier, I know we were all very excited, especially people that live close by. No doubt people backing the airport were very pleased to hear that there's a new ownership group move in and basically kind of keep the vision and keep the airport alive because I think everybody was envisioning town homes going up.

Rob Grover (02:26):

Yeah, absolutely.

Carlin Lutzer (02:27):

Yeah.

Rob Grover (02:29):

I did myself and my wife and I, we almost put a full sale sign up on our house because we back onto the runway as you can see behind me. But anyway, thank goodness that's not happening and the airport's going to be an airport as it always should have been. So yeah, great.

Carlin Lutzer (02:50):

Absolutely. Yeah. Do you kind of have a background in aviation?

Rob Grover (02:54):

I fly. I've been flying. I actually soloed on this field when I moved over from the UK. I was learning over there with BA and then I came here and I've actually soloed on this field in 2003. So it's got a lot of history with me. I'm super excited to see it being kept as an airport and also the improvements and the upgrades and everything else that's going along with it. Fantastic.

Carlin Lutzer (03:23):

Yeah, absolutely. Well, we look forward to hearing about some of those upgrades. Now, how on earth does someone all of a sudden decide that they're going to buy an airport? I would imagine the ownership group certainly has, again, an aviation background as well, right?

Rob Grover (03:40):

Yeah, he's a pilot too. He also is moving his business here. So they're renovating the terminal building and then all his staff will be working here too. So that's great also.

Carlin Lutzer (03:58):

Yeah, no, that's great. So can you tell us a little bit about the vision over the next few years as to what the airport is going to look like in the future?

Rob Grover (04:08):

Yeah. So right now, like I said, the terminal building is under renovation.That's been going on since the new year just began and that looks fantastic. Everything's great in there. There's going to be a lovely pilot lounge in there for the pilots, probably a coffee stand, a PC station so they can do their flight planning and weather checks and all that stuff. Probably some ice cream too, that kind of thing. But long-term, I think we want to turn it into a working airport, maybe a executive airport, one that can hold charter flights from here sometimes if they want. We've already had charter flights from Vancouver in here, so maybe that's something to look at, but we want to build some hangers and lease those out long-term, upgrade the runway facilities there. Some of those are already underway. Some safety features have been put in place already.

(05:25):

So yeah, it's quite a lot going on.

Carlin Lutzer (05:28):

Oh yeah, for sure. No, and when you talk about chartered flights, what kind of planes are we talking land in there?

Rob Grover (05:34):

Well, I mean, it's a good airport and stars already land here, yeah. So that's a great benefit to our community to have stars come in. Yes. There's also Medivac King Air Flights. They're welcome here. Obviously they can use it whenever they want, but just like small twin planes like a King Air or something like that. We've already had those in from Vancouver dropping people off. People that don't want to go to Spring Bank because it's too busy. Calgary have got fees and whatnot and that's another busy place. So Okatoka's prime location for aviation, it's so close to Calgary businesses and people wanting to come and visit and do their things. So yeah, no, I think it's great.

Carlin Lutzer (06:34):

Yeah. What are some of the costs in landing a plane in an airport? If you look at Calgary Airport, I imagine the costs are quite substantial to land a plane there.

Rob Grover (06:44):

Yeah, they've got some substantial costs to go with their airport too, right? I mean, that's fully commercial. There's no landing fees for general aviation here. For commercial flights coming in and out, that's still got to be determined here, but they're not going to be extortionate. But we want to be friendly, we want to be open to everybody coming in and use the airport as it's supposed to be used.

Carlin Lutzer (07:11):

Yeah, absolutely. Now, did I hear rumors that there was possibly in the future going to be a restaurant there?

Rob Grover (07:19):

That's the plan.

Carlin Lutzer (07:20):

That

Rob Grover (07:21):

Is the plan. Yeah, we're in talks with the town right now to start building that. I mean, we've got to do some engineering drawings and these kinds of things and make sure everybody's happy. The community's happy, the town's happy. So there's lots of planning behind the works going on with all that. So yeah, hopefully that comes to fruition and the air ants community gets a great restaurant, bonus.

Carlin Lutzer (07:49):

Yeah, absolutely. No, it's such a beautiful part of Oketoks and certainly do from five or six years ago when it seemed like the airport was with the flying school, it seemed quite active and then for it to die off a little bit, that was a little bit sad because like I said before, then we were all kind of wondering what was going to happen. But I, for one, love hearing the planes. I love hearing them take off. I love seeing them. And for those that get to back the airport, no doubt that's a little bit of a treat just to be able to watch the planes and now the helicopters, because there's a helicopter, is it a school?

Rob Grover (08:36):

Yeah. It's the only school that we're going to have here is Foothills helicopters. So that's not too bad, but we're not going to have another flight school that gets a little bit ... It's too busy a community. It's been tried before. It didn't obviously go down too well, did it?

Announcer (09:00):

No.

Rob Grover (09:02):

And pilots that are coming in and out of here, I'm just telling them, we want to be friendly, but we've got to be respectful for the community and we all got to live together and don't be doing circuits at nine o'clock at night, that kind of thing and just be respectful. That's all we ask.

Carlin Lutzer (09:23):

Yeah. No, for sure. Yeah, because every once in a while, obviously on Facebook or whatever, you hear people ... I think the majority of people love having an airplane, airport right in their community and you do hear people complain about it every once in a while. But my opinion on that is, well, maybe don't buy a house near an airport.

Rob Grover (09:48):

Ah, it's true. It's true. I know,

Carlin Lutzer (09:52):

Right?

Rob Grover (09:54):

I mean, everybody that comes here knows you do your research, you know what kind of an area you're living in. Yeah, fair enough. The airport has been inactive for a few years, but it's still an airport, right? It was never actually ever shut down. So just people I think were wondering what was going on. They think it was going to shut down. So that kind of put a lot of pilots off coming here. There was no development for Hangerage, all these kinds of things. I mean, that's going to change and it's going to get busier and it's going to be used as it is intended to be used. So it's great. No,

Carlin Lutzer (10:47):

It is a great thing for the community. I think it's certainly something people love to talk about. Like I said, I love hearing the planes, but just even for potential economic developments in the area, maybe there's things being delivered that come to the airport or sports teams landing here or whatever. I don't know what kind of size. How many people can

Rob Grover (11:17):

A plane- These general charter planes, they can hold 16 people, those kinds of things. So it'll be a smaller operation, but not only for that, when things get ramped up and stuff like that, I'd like to approach local businesses around there. I mean, there's golf courses, there's Spruce on our doorstep. There's all these lovely, wonderful restaurants in Okotoks. So I'd like to approach those. Maybe we can have a little collaboration going on, GA pilots coming in here, they can use the town services, go and play some golf, have a lovely meal, all these kinds of things. I mean, it's a great little adventure. Pilots love getting out and having these little adventures and Okatoks is prime.

Carlin Lutzer (12:09):

Well, isn't there some airports that do a fly-in breakfast where a bunch of people fly in for breakfast or lunch or whatever? Doesn't that happen quite a bit?

Rob Grover (12:18):

Oh yeah, it's fantastic. Well, it's all over the country really, but I go to quite a few. Vulcan does one, High River does one, Camrose, I mean, they all do it, Rocky Mountain House everywhere. And then it's a good fun. There's good camaraderie. You get to see some people have a chit-chat and have a little adventure at the same time, right? And it brings everyone to your town and it's great.

Carlin Lutzer (12:49):

Yeah, absolutely. No, it's so nice. We're so grateful as a community and I know I speak for the majority that we are so pleased that there's a new ownership group there,

Announcer (13:02):

A

Carlin Lutzer (13:02):

Group that has a vision for the airport. Will you guys have to do any extra work to the runway itself? Is that starting to show its age a

Rob Grover (13:12):

Bit? It does need a little bit of upgrading. I mean, I had an audit by Transport Canada at the beginning of May. So there's some little, nothing major, just a few little bits and pieces here and there to fix up to satisfy them. But yeah, no, I mean, it's in good shape. So yeah, no, we've changed the frequency because that was conflicting with a couple of other airports in the area. So that was a safety feature. We made it a mandatory frequency because believe it or not, you can fly around in uncontrolled airspace in Canada and not have a radio still. So I didn't really want people coming in here being built up with no radio. So you'd make it a mandatory frequency. So then you have to have a radio, that's all been done. So just safety measures, different things going on to improve everything and everyone's experiencing ... Yeah.

Carlin Lutzer (14:17):

No, that's good. How many plans are you seeing on average? I don't know if you go by the month or by the week or the day.

Rob Grover (14:23):

Does

Carlin Lutzer (14:23):

It vary quite

Rob Grover (14:25):

A bit? Everybody in the aviation community knows that we're going through renovations. I've posted some news on our website, cf2.ca explaining the news. So people are coming in here maybe 10 or 20 a month right now just to have a look around, see what we're doing, but that's going to ramp up obviously when we get Hangerage built and we also want to get a mechanic, AME, aviation mechanic in here. So they'll be onsite on field mechanic, which is I think very beneficial or entice a lot of people to come here.

Carlin Lutzer (15:11):

For sure.

Rob Grover (15:12):

So yeah, it will ramp up, but for now it's pretty quiet because everyone knows what we're going through.

Carlin Lutzer (15:21):

We have YYC. So Okatoks Airport is CFX2?

Rob Grover (15:27):

Yeah.

Carlin Lutzer (15:27):

Okay.

Rob Grover (15:30):

Every airport has its little identifier.

Carlin Lutzer (15:33):

What does the two mean? YC doesn't have a number after that. Does that mean a regional airport or just

Rob Grover (15:41):

A- Yeah, I would say so. Yeah, just small. I mean, the thing about Okotoks is because it's in a buildup community, it is a certified by Transport Canada. There's a lot of airports that aren't certified, they're just sort of aerodromes. So we run to a very stringent set of rules being that we are in this built up area. So yeah, I think it makes it safer for the community too.

Carlin Lutzer (16:15):

Yeah. Now for the commercial area that's going to be built just to the north of the airport that the town has plans for, do you see that as a benefit to the airport having that commercial area?

Rob Grover (16:27):

Yeah. I mean, I don't see why not. I mean, there's probably going to be a lot of business in there too, right? I mean, who knows? Businessmen or ladies with planes come in here and there you go. There's your business. There's lots of opportunities.

Carlin Lutzer (16:44):

Yeah, no, for sure. Like this concept of an airport, I think a lot of times you see it down in places like Arizona and people flying into their second house, they're coming in for the weekend or whatever. So it is certainly a great concept. I know we as a community are hoping for all the best and want to support you guys as much as possible. Now after the renovations, will you guys have an open house or something planned?

Rob Grover (17:15):

There's talks of this. Yeah. I mean, anybody and everybody is always welcome to give me a call, come see me, I'll show you around. We really do want to be friendly. We really do want to be a part of the community. That's what we want to do. So yeah, I'm sure there's going to be things like that, but honestly, we've been so flat out trying to get everything in order.

Carlin Lutzer (17:41):

Yeah, I know. It was hard to nail you down for a time, but that's good. That means good things are happening, good things are coming and we as a community, I know especially up in the Northeastern side of Oketoks, we certainly support what you guys are doing and so glad to have the new ownership group and have you Rob as the manager and look forward to the great things that you guys have in store.

Rob Grover (18:09):

Absolutely. Yes. Fantastic.

Carlin Lutzer (18:10):

Thanks for your time today, Rob.

Rob Grover (18:12):

Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you.

Carlin Lutzer (18:23):

Big thank you to Rob Grover for joining us on the Oak Oaks Podcast and sharing the vision of the future of the Okotoks Air Ranch Airport. It's exciting to hear about the opportunities ahead and to know that this important community asset has owners who are committed to investing in the future. Whether you're a pilot, a local business owner, or simply someone who appreciates what makes Okotoks unique, it's clear there's a lot happening at the airport that will be worth watching in the years to come. If you enjoyed today's episode, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps continue bringing you conversations that matter to Okotoks and the Foothills. Until next time, thanks for listening to the Okotoks Podcast.

Announcer (19:10):

Another episode in the books. Thanks for rocking with us on the Okatoaks podcast brought to you by Carlin Lutzer Real Estate.