The Regina Airport Authority (YQR) and the City of Regina officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Friday.

The MOU will serve as a guideline for how the two groups work together going forward.

Mayor Sandra Masters says while the city and YQR have always worked collaboratively, this MOU better aligns the two organizations.

“We’re busy developing, they’re busy looking at development and the needs of the airport,” said Masters, “For us not to be agreeing to continually be connecting with each other, in that regard, was a shortcoming I think.”

Masters says the mutual growth of the city and YQR is good for the region.

Chair of the Regina Airport Authority Trent Fraser says the MOU just adds to the good news for YQR after NavCanada reversed their decision to close the Air Traffic Control Tower.

“The NavCanada announcement (Thursday) was certainly a relief to our senior administration, and to our Board of Directors, it’s the right decision,” said Fraser. “This, coupled with today’s announcement, we’re in a pretty good state. Obviously, we’re looking forward to getting some passenger traffic back, but that’s going to come in due course.”

While the airport has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, Masters says the timing of this MOU couldn’t be better.

“It’s probably the ideal time, given that it hadn’t been done before,” said Masters. “Our intention, the airport’s intention, are to bring as many visitors as possible, and allow our citizens to travel once they can  travel to visit family and friends that they’ve been missing for more than a year now. And, I think, in terms of economic recovery we want to grow, and we need that airport to be functioning and able to grow.”