YXS Presses on to Attract Tech-Cargo Traffic
Prince George, B.C.- It has been a year of successes for the Prince George Airport Authority.
In a presentation to Prince George City Council, highlights of the year end report indicate:
- increase in passengers traffic 4% (Vancouver Airport passenger traffic was up 3.3%)
- Air Canada and Central Mountain Air added service in October,
- West Jet added more seats with a change in aircraft,
- progress being made on efforts to make YXS a tech stop.
The common fuel storage project will be completed by the end of June, and there is progress being made on achieving a cargo open skies policy, however, there has been no movement on the fees charged by Nav Canada, "Not one iota" says YXS President and CEO John Gibson "And that’s with a lot of push from a lot of politicians."
NAV Canada charges $3,000 for a tech stop, a fee that is not charged in the U.S. With the Canadian dollar at par with the U.S. dollar, the disadvantage created by the NAV Canada fee is significant.
The efforts to make YXS a tech stop should continue says Gibson as that kind of development will offset the dollars that will be needed to maintain the infrastructure at the airport. The report presented to Council suggests the airport will need $39 million for rehabilitation of infrastructure and equipment from 2013 to 2023. The report says if there is no change in the way the airport does business, the cash flow position will change from $4 million in cash to $12 million in the hole.
Just one cargo-tech stop a day would eliminate the cash flow deficit and produce more employment in Prince George says Gibson.
Comments
If it costs me three grand to set my 747 down and “gas up”, and the price of touching the runway in Prince George is three grand more than Anchorage would be, I think I’d need a pretty good discount over Anchorage on the price of fuel to offset that, before I’d make the choice to stop here.
Knowing full well how we get gouged for fuel prices around here, I’d say the chances are looking pretty slim for YXS at the moment!
Of course, there is the factor of whether or not I’d have to fly further to get the plane to Anchorage, and the cost doing that, and admin costs at each destination etc.
I see some work being done again at the fuel storage facility at the north end of the runway, so maybe there’s hope for us yet !!
Always strange when it is to the benefit of those presenting their case if it is cheaper in the USA they are looking for a handout. Maybe while considering the costs in the USA they could look at gasoline being 25% cheaper in the US, along with cars, air travel, and food.
Those at the airport know how to get tax dollars for the infrastructure, but I don’t think they have what it takes to make an entrepreneurial operation come together.
For cargo to work they will also have to have passenger destinations that can plug some of the holes for the network to become viable IMO. I don’t see that happening any time soon.
The route going to Asia is shorter stopping here than stopping at Anchorage. We also have rail and road connections which Anchorage of course does not have, so cargo that is not as time dependent could be dropped off or picked up using cheaper ground transportation.
The $3000 is the Nav Canada fee not what the airport charges. How do our airport fees compare to other airports?
So if the airport improvement fee $18 charged to each passenger leaving PG was to pay for thrunway extension, then how are they going to pay for the “$39 million for rehabilitation of infrastructure and equipment” that is needed? Increase our fees even more?
gitterdun I believe that the Airport Improvement Fee is now $20.00. If not it will be quite soon. And yes, your correct they will continue to raise the fee to cover all their great infrastructure plans.
Note that Gibson says **The efforts to make YXS a tech stop –should– continue** Does this mean they are getting close to giving up on that idea??? So far they have not made any progress on the tech stop idea, and its a pretty good chance they never will.
They are also $17 Million in debt, plus they have many other issues, that will cost us more money.
I still say we should have left this Airport in the hands of the Federal Government, at least then the cost of the airport was pro rated over all tax payers in Canada. As it now stands we pick up the tab (through airport improvement fees) for the whole shebang.
We can thank our local politicians for this fiasco.
Nav Canada drops their landing fee here and they would have to drop it for Kelowna too. Isn’t Kelowna a tech stop wannabe too? And they are way closer to Vancouver than we are.
Our company made the decision not to use XYS as well due to Nav Canada charting 88 dollars per landing and the airport charging and additional 53 and he don’t even use the runway. Helicopter. This would have put us in a disadvantage in our tender for a huge project. Typical pg bring cash.
And I bet they don’t pay a carbon tax in Anchorage or Alberta either… that has to hurt a tech stop idea here in BC.
China recently had a spat with the EU where they refused to land any planes in EU countries that wanted to charge a carbon tax for fuel. The EU backed down for fear of loosing commerce with China.
YXS is $17 million dollars in debt? Kinda hard to comprehend an airport being foreclosed on by one or more lending institutions. Maybe it will come up in a tax sale. Hope I never see a big shot from the airport company coming out of a Money Mart.
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