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— Specialty · Aerospace & MRO

Hangars, MRO facilities, and airside parcels for a specialized aviation market.

Aerospace real estate is a narrow market with a narrow buyer pool, and the transactions that happen are typically off-market. We are one of a small number of Canadian brokerages with active mandate experience in the category.

— Practice Thesis

How we work in aerospace & mro.

The Canadian aerospace real estate market consists of perhaps two hundred airside parcels at federally regulated airports across the country, plus a similar number of off-airport hangar and MRO facilities. The buyer pool for any given asset is small — typically a handful of operators, fixed-base operators, or aerospace manufacturers with existing presence at that airport. Transactions are slow, relationship-driven, and rarely advertised.

Our practice works the four major Canadian aerospace clusters: the GTA (Pearson, Toronto-Buttonville, Hamilton, Oshawa), Montreal (Mirabel, Saint-Hubert — through partner relationships), Calgary, and Winnipeg. We focus on transactions in the GTA and Calgary directly and partner on Quebec and Manitoba mandates.

The work requires understanding airport authority lease structures (typically 21+21 years with renewals), Transport Canada regulatory overlay, and the operator-specific economics of MRO businesses. Hangar real estate trades at unusual cap rates that reflect both the scarcity of the asset and the operator-credit risk profile. We underwrite both.

— Market Intelligence

The numbers that actually matter.

Major Canadian Airports
26
NAS-designated, suitable for institutional MRO
Typical Hangar Cap Rate
7-9%
Class A MRO, single-tenant
Avg. Airport Authority Lease
21+21 yr
With renewal options
Canadian Aerospace GDP
$28B
2025 estimate, including MRO services
— Currently Marketing

Active mandates in this practice.

No active mandates in this practice at the moment. Discreet inquiries always welcome.
— Common Questions

What clients ask us.

What does "airside" mean for a real estate parcel?
Airside parcels have direct taxiway or runway access — meaning aircraft can move under their own power between the building and the active airport surface. Airside parcels are dramatically more valuable than landside parcels of equivalent size, and the number of available airside parcels at any given Canadian airport is finite.
How do airport authority leases work?
Most airside real estate is leased rather than owned. Canadian airport authorities (Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Calgary Airport Authority, etc.) own the underlying land and lease it to tenants on long-term ground leases — typically 21 years with one or two 21-year renewal options. The improvements on the land (hangars, MRO buildings, fuel facilities) are owned by the tenant. When we broker a transaction, we are typically transferring the lease and improvements together.
Do you work fixed-base operators (FBOs)?
Selectively. FBO transactions are operating-business sales with real estate components. The buyer pool for FBOs is small — a handful of consolidator groups plus regional operators. We will run an FBO mandate when there is a clear thesis but we recognize the transaction is fundamentally an operating-business sale.
What about military and government aviation?
Federal aviation real estate (CFB Trenton, CFB Greenwood, etc.) goes through Public Services and Procurement Canada and is outside our practice. We work civilian aviation real estate exclusively.
Is this a growing market?
Modestly. Canadian aerospace MRO demand grows roughly with global commercial aviation fleet growth — low single-digit percentage per year. Where we see more activity is in conversion of legacy hangar facilities to next-generation MRO standards (composite-airframe capability, electric and hydrogen aircraft readiness), and in airport authority redevelopment programs reallocating airside parcels.
Discreet by default

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