A Vancouver-based medical marijuana producer is taking their business to new heights with a budding facility at Edmonton Airport.

Aurora Cannabis is leasing 30 acres from the Edmonton Regional Airports Authority to build an 800,000 square foot production facility, 170 times bigger than their plant in Mountain View County.

“We’re very excited about it,” Aurora vice president Cam Battley says.

“It’s going to be the largest, the most advanced and the most highly automated cannabis production facility in the world, as far as we know, and it’s going to be the first cannabis production facility to be located at an international airport.”

The airport is an ideal location, Battley says, because it gives the company quick access to courier services and all the utilities they need to maintain the plant. Aurora already provides same-day delivery to clients in Edmonton and Calgary.

The Edmonton plant will produce an estimated 100,000 kg of cannabis per year.

“We are building out expansion both to satisfy the growing demand for medical cannabis and in anticipation of the legal consumer market,” Battley says.

The plant is expected to open by the end of 2017, however, travellers shouldn’t expect to see or smell the plants as they fly over, because the building will be a closed greenhouse.