New airport CEO to look at international, low-fare flights

Year-round flights to the United States and ultra-low-fare airlines are a few of the things the new Regina Airport Authority CEO will hope to see take flight.

James Bogusz will be taking over as the new head of the airport in February. He replaces former CEO Dick Graham, who left in June.  Chair of the board of directors Ken Waschuk had been serving as the acting CEO since then.

Bogusz has spent the past decade at the Victoria Airport Authority as vice-president of operations and development.

He said Regina isn’t going to be unfamiliar territory for him.

“My mom and dad had a home just near Dewdney Avenue by the RCMP Depot so in a way this actually feels like I’m coming home all over again,” he said.

Bogusz said his vision is to help grow the airport, which includes bringing in new clients.

One of the things he will look at doing is finding different ways to get customers into the US.

“One of the mandates will be about looking for a carrier to provide year-round transport service. I know we used to have Denver, for example, and Minneapolis and as target cities, we are going to look to reacquire those if possible.”

He said it is up to the airlines to decide if they want to do business out of the Regina airport, but noted he plans on pointing out what they think these airlines are missing.

Bogusz also said they will look at bringing in some ultra-low-fare airlines to help ease the financial burden on customers. He said Regina is in a great place because of the population growth the city is seeing.

“What we’re hoping to do is we’re going to be meeting with those airlines (and) talking to them about opportunities that we see to see where we can fit on the roadmap in the future.”

When it comes to ride-sharing, he said they are going to wait for the province to pass its legislation before deciding how the airport will use the program.

The goal of the new CEO will be to create relationships with the City of Regina and the Regina Chamber of Commerce to determine how the airport can help the Queen City grow.