Skyline Helicopter Technologies (SHT) is to install a new helipad and expand its service centre in Sudbury, Ontario by 7,000 sq ft, nearly doubling its existing footprint, thanks to a repayable FedNor contribution of $500,000. Once complete, this expansion will allow SHT to capitalise on increased demand for its products and services, resulting from its designation as eastern Canada's only Sikorsky-approved service centre and becoming northern Ontario's only authorised distributor for Genesys Aerosystems, Garmin, Aspen and Jupiter Avionics for both radio and navigation systems. As a result, SHT will be well positioned to pursue the certifications needed to service other helicopter models, paving the way for more growth opportunities.

“This FedNor investment will allow us to almost double the size of our Sudbury operations to meet the growing demand for products and services. Installing a new helipad and expanding our facilities will help us take the business to the next level so we can take on more clients, reach new markets, hire more people and deliver improved services to our existing and future clients,” says president and director of maintenance Joe Natale.

“Skyline Helicopter Technologies is northern Ontario's only distributor for Genesys Aerosystems, Garmin, Aspen and critical radio and navigation systems," says the honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor. "This investment will help the company grow its operations and create a number of good-paying jobs for families right here in Sudbury. Targeted investments in innovative sectors like this one are exactly what we need to grow an economy that will benefit everyone and leave no one behind.”

SHT provides service inspections, heavy maintenance checks, frame up refurbishments with structural repairs, avionics updates, component overhauls and modifications to rotary wing aircraft. It is a licensed Bell customer service facility, a Robinson Helicopters service centre and, in 2014, became the only eastern Canadian Sikorsky service centre for the Sikorsky S-76.

Funding for today's announcement was provided through the Regional Economic Growth through Innovation (REGI) programme. REGI is a national funding programme that supports the growth of Canadian businesses, their expansion into new markets and their adoption of new technologies and processes.

FedNor delivers national funding through the Regional Economic Growth through Innovation (REGI) programme in northern Ontario and works to support business scale-up, increase commercialisation rates and enhance regional cluster development, resulting in job creation in the region.