Ontario Breaks Ground on $56.3M Shared Ornge-OPP Aircraft Hangar at Lake Simcoe Regional Airport

Construction is underway on a new emergency services aircraft hangar at Lake Simcoe Regional Airport in Oro-Medonte, Ontario. Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones joined local dignitaries and officials from Ornge and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) at the airport on Thursday to mark the groundbreaking on the nearly 100,000-square-foot facility. The provincial government is investing $56.3 million in the project, which brings air ambulance and police aviation services together under one roof.

The hangar will house Ornge's two new fixed-wing Special Mission Aircraft, along with four OPP helicopters and four OPP fixed-wing aircraft. Ornge's new high-speed aircraft can travel longer distances without refuelling and can transport patients with specialized care needs, including neonatal, pediatric and bariatric patients. Once operational, the base will house a Pilatus PC-24, supported by a backup aircraft to maintain service reliability. Ornge President and CEO Dr. Homer Tien said it will be a fully operational base running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Jones said the partnership will help get critical care and law enforcement resources into the air faster, improving response times to life-threatening emergencies such as car accidents, heart attacks and strokes. She said the government previously announced another $118 million to expand Ornge's fixed-wing fleet to 12 aircraft, including replacing its existing eight fixed-wing aircraft and building a larger hangar in Sudbury. Ornge conducts approximately 25,000 air and land ambulance patient transports every year.

OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique said the expanded aviation program will strengthen the force's ability to respond to emergencies and operate in remote and difficult-to-access areas, including search and rescue, missing-person investigations, tactical deployments, hostage rescues and specialized investigations. He said the OPP's fixed-wing and helicopter assets fly more than 4,000 hours annually in support of public safety across Ontario, and that bringing the two organizations together will increase interoperability.

Construction is expected to be completed in winter 2027 and to support approximately 200 construction jobs in the region.

Pairing a medical air-transport operator and a police air wing in one building is a facilities decision as much as an operational one. Hangar space, fuel, maintenance access and 24-hour staffing are fixed costs, and sharing them across two agencies spreads that burden over more aircraft. The eight OPP aircraft and the Ornge fixed-wing pair named for the site show the scale of fleet being consolidated at a single regional airport.

For the wider market, this is publicly funded demand for specialized fixed-wing capacity. Ornge's move to a Pilatus PC-24 with a backup aircraft reflects a requirement that continues to favor jet-class platforms able to fly longer legs with specialized patient loads. The separate $118 million fleet plan, which grows the fixed-wing fleet from eight to 12 aircraft, signals that this is part of a broader replacement and expansion cycle rather than a one-off building.

The next concrete milestone is the winter 2027 completion date, which will test whether construction stays on schedule and whether the base reaches the continuous 24-hour, 365-day operation Dr. Tien described.