Issue

Medicine Hat Regional Airport (YXH) currently lacks scheduled passenger air service, creating a significant economic development and connectivity challenge for Southeast Alberta and Southwest Saskatchewan. The prolonged loss of scheduled air service threatens regional competitiveness, investment attraction, workforce mobility, business retention, tourism growth, and access to national and international markets.

Without timely restoration of sustainable air service, the region risks losing economic opportunities, federal infrastructure investment, business expansion prospects, and its ability to attract talent, visitors, and new families to the community.

Background

Regional air service is essential infrastructure that supports economic growth, labour mobility, investment attraction, tourism, healthcare access, and business competitiveness.

Medicine Hat Regional Airport historically served as a critical transportation gateway for Southeast Alberta and Southwest Saskatchewan. Prior to the loss of scheduled passenger service, the airport accommodated approximately 75,000 annual passengers and generated an estimated 379,000 annual one-way air trips within its catchment area. In 2019, the Medicine Hat airport realized success resulting from an additional air carrier, increased flights, load capacity, and reduced fares. Since that time, there has been a decline in service, resulting in the loss of passenger service in June 2026. 

Historically, approximately 90-95% of travellers used the airport as a connecting point to major Canadian business centres including Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa, with an annual contribution to regional GDP of approximately $15.7 million. The regional airport also supports 135 jobs, generates more than $11 million in labour income with more than $25 million invested in airport infrastructure and modernization over the past decade. 

Previous challenges related to usage were linked to flight consistency, reliability, long connection times and reduced flight frequency, which resulted in leakage to the YYC airport and reduced use from the Medicine Hat Regional Airport. While businesses have indicated that they would choose to fly out of Medicine Hat if the fares were more reasonable and schedules would accommodate same-day business travel, we continue to face obstacles related to a more conducive model for air service. 

With the catchment area of Southeast Alberta and Southwest Saskatchewan, there is a potential travel demand of 152,000 passengers. Most passengers would prefer to fly from Medicine Hat if the flight was available with reasonable fares and departure/connection times. Individuals would be willing to fly from Medicine Hat to avoid parking in larger centres and having to drive a greater distance; however people value their time, and if there are long layovers as a result of poor connections or flights that aren’t ideal travel times, the proximity of the Regina and Calgary Airports are no longer a deterrent to finding more cost-effective, reliable, and convenient options. With the current air carrier switching to a larger aircraft and moving the service away from a contract model, the goal of greater comfort and reliability should be attained, but there are still constraints as a result of flight times, connections and fares.

Recent community and business engagement demonstrates overwhelming support for restoring air service and consistently identify air service as one of the most important factors affecting:

• Business productivity
• Investment attraction
• Workforce recruitment and retention
• Regional growth
• Tourism development
• Community competitiveness

There is a growing risk that prolonged service disruptions could negatively impact future investment decisions, reduce regional accessibility, and make future restoration efforts increasingly difficult. Experiences in other Canadian communities demonstrate that restoring service becomes more challenging the longer a community remains without scheduled passenger flights

The Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce recommends that the City of Medicine Hat aggressively pursue options and advocate for scheduled passenger air service and improved air service that would provide for more flight frequency, greater consistency and reliability, better connection times and a competitive service for travelers in Southeast Alberta and Southwest Saskatchewan catchment area.

Recommendations

The Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce recommends that:

1. The City of Medicine Hat continue to pursue and support commercial air carriers through air service attraction strategies, business case development, route incentive programs, and regional partnership initiatives aimed at restoring sustainable scheduled passenger service.
2. That the City of Medicine Hat coordinate a "Fly Local" commitment campaign upon restoration of service to encourage utilization and long-term viability of regional air connections.
3. The Government of Alberta establish a Regional Air Service Restoration Program that provides targeted financial support, risk-sharing mechanisms, and incentives to restore scheduled passenger air service in underserved regional markets.

Date Approved: October 17, 2012/September 16, 2026
Date Completed: February 2019
Reviewed/Revised: October 2024/August 2026