Latitude President and CEO Peter Byl said in a press release that they are specifically investing in Hamilton because the city offers “international airport capabilities, access to a large labour market and the potential for healthcare partnerships with local academia and healthcare facilities.” Photo Credit: Vantage Airport Group.
A company called Latitude Air Ambulance recently broke ground on a major facility expansion at John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport (YHM) in Mount Hope.
The new complex will feature an airplane hangar and offices.
The company specializes in medevac evacuation and repatriation, medical escorts, worldwide bed-finding services, and organ transfers.
They reportedly service the travel insurance industry, government, and the private sector, conducting close to 1,000 repatriations and bed finds per year.
Latitude is also partnered with the Toronto SickKids Children’s Hospital to provide international neonatal transfers.
Their aircraft are medically configured to resemble “a full airborne intensive care unit” and they fly to over 130 countries across six continents.
Latitude was joined by TradePort International Corporation, Vantage Airport Group, and industry partners and community stakeholders for a ground breaking ceremony in December.
Latitude had already been operating out of Hamilton International Airport since 2009 but has been simply leasing space.
However, the company has grown and now has eight aircraft, requiring a facility of its own.
The new “Fixed Base Operation at Hamilton International” will be 44,000 square feet.
It will include an aircraft hangar with sufficient maintenance and storage capacity for its entire fleet, storage space for equipment, and an office complex that will be home to administration staff and used for training.
The targeted completion for the project is late 2024.
Latitude is also anticipating a 50 per cent increase in its workforce within two years of the project’s completion.
They currently employ over 100 personnel in Hamilton, including registered nurses, respiratory technicians, doctors, pilots, flight nurse coordinators, maintenance engineers, duty officers, finance and administration, sales staff, and their management team.
Latitude President and CEO Peter Byl said in a press release that they are specifically investing in Hamilton because the city offers “international airport capabilities, access to a large labour market and the potential for healthcare partnerships with local academia and healthcare facilities.”
Hamilton Airport is primarily known for its cargo capacity and is the third largest cargo airport in Canada after Toronto’s Pearson Airport and the Vancouver International Airport.
However, Hamilton Airport is the “largest overnight express freight airport” in Canada.
The hub sees considerable cargo traffic from shipping companies like Amazon, Canada Post, Cargojet, DHL, Purolator, Prime Air, and UPS.
The airport is owned by the City of Hamilton and managed under an agreement by TradePort International Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vantage Airport Group.
The airport also received a $23.5 million funding commitment from the federal government for upgrades last year.
The $23.5 million investment will help fund a $47 million project to allow the airport to handle increased cargo operations by improving and expanding airfield capacity, increasing de-icing capacity, and building a new independent service road to reduce congestion.
That project alone will reportedly create 460 construction jobs and over 1,800 permanent positions by 2025.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
