Kingston airport officials said they are having “good conversations” with airlines about the potential of bringing more flights in and out of the newly expanded Norman Rogers Airport (YGK).

The almost-complete renovations to the airport, the results of a 14-month, $16 million investment, were officially unveiled Friday.

With the 327-metre runway extension complete and much of the work on the terminal finished, attention now turns to the second part of the project’s build-it-and-they-will-come strategy — the part where the frequency and reliability of flights in and out of the airport improves.

“I think we have got great opportunity there, as there have been some significant changes with Air Canada and WestJet,” airport manager Rick Reed said. “WestJet has always been interested in it and we will be moving on with talks with WestJet and Porter as well.”

Reed said there are also discussions taking place with charter companies, such as Sunwing and Yukon-based Air North.

“I think within the year we will have some pretty exciting news for our community,” Reed said. “We will be able to offer them such excellent service out of our community without having to travel to Toronto by bus, train, car.”

In addition to the runway extension, the renovations to the airport included improved accessibility, including a new elevator, accessible seating and new universal and barrier-free washrooms.

The rebuilt departure lounge includes in-seating phone and tablet charging, private workstations, a baggage carousel and improved restrooms.

New touch screen kiosks in the arrivals area are to provide visitors with information about things to see and do in the area.

Fittipauld Lourenco, Air Canada’s director of government relations, said the new terminal building will help Kingston and the airline.

“Investments in the passenger experience are critically important to us and they go a very long way to ensuring our customers are happy,” he said. “Having a facility like this encourages people to stay in Kingston, fly out of Kingston, use the services here instead of going to airports like Toronto or, even worse, on the other side of the border.”

Lourenco said the airline has increased service to Kingston by 18 per cent in the past four years and now offers seven flights a day between here and Toronto.

Mayor Bryan Paterson said the increase in Air Canada service shows air travel to and from Kingston has already improved, a trend the new airport will help continue.

“There are more passengers flying out of Kingston than ever before, but certainly we are interested in continuing to expand that, any improvement to frequency and service,” said Paterson, adding that the previous terminal building did not have the space to accommodate a second airline so such discussions prior to now would not have mattered.

“We’ve had good conversations with Air Canada even over the last year,” Paterson said. “We are talking to Air Canada and we are talking to other airlines as well.”

Although about 70,000 people travel through the airport each year, the Kingston market generates about 650,000 passengers a year, so there is room to grow the number of people using YGK.

“When you have 90 per cent of the population in Kingston that drive several hours to another airport, I don’t think people do that because they want to do that,” Paterson said.