Airports To Play Vital Role In Region’s Development
Scott Clements said there were 700-thousand passengers flying into and out of Fort McMurray (YMM) when he joined the airport in 2009. "Which is busy enough," he said, "But at the end of last year it was 1.2-million passengers, which was the design capacity of the building we haven't even moved into yet – so it's crazy up there." (photo shows BC Aviation Council Chair, Mark Duncan, and YMM President and CEO, Scott Clements)
The airport authority laid out a 20- to 25-year master plan after it formed in 2010. "That got completely blown out of the water," he said. "We're building another one because we are already at the year 2030 in terms of our assumptions of growth."
The YMM President added there are 47 satellite airports in the region – all privately-held – owned by oil companies or a consortia of oil companies. "And some of them are very small strips, some of them are inactive, but there's at least a dozen that are quite active," said Clements. "Carrying 737-size loads of workers in and out of the region on a regular basis."
"We've just done a survey of all of the oil companies who own these airports and they have shared with us a 10-year projection of the traffic in and out of their airports. This will be public information in about a month and ahalf, and will be used to make important decisions about aviation and airport infrastructure over the next couple of years."
In looking at what's to come for BC, Clements said the airport in Kitimat will be experiencing all kinds of pressure right now because of the construction going on in that community. He says nearby airports may benefit from that as well.
"But in the development of the gas that is fairly close to Prince George, there may be some consideration of private companies building satellite airports," said the YMM exec. "If there isn't sufficient road infrastructure to carry the workers from an airport to their worksite within, say, 45-minutes to an hour, there will be very strong consideration of building private airports to fly in and fly out the workers from wherever they are coming from."
The Chair of the BC Aviation Council, Mark Duncan, said with Terrace airport seeing 38-percent growth in passenger traffic last year, and YXS growth up 14-percent, even before any deals are signed, it's important for the province's 38 certified airports to 'learn the lessons' from Fort McMurray.
"And that's one of the things we're trying to do with all of our managers – is anticipate for the future, do a plan, plan 20-years out," said Duncan, "And, then, you're prepared."
"I think Prince George has done a very good job of expanding their airport, and also, you have a very large cargo capability," said the BCAC Chair. "Some people might say it's (the cart) before the horse, but I think it's called good preparation and I think it will serve Prince George very well to be ready."
Comments
Lets hope the airport sees respective growth soon. Lots of potential there.
Prince George is to far from where the action is.
The future is Terrace, Kitimat, Pr Rupert, Highway 37 North.
Terrace will be the distribution area.
Hey let’s revitalize the downtown of PG! There is a lot of potential there.
That’s good, Palopu, you’re finally coming around to the idea of LNG.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/bc2035/Kitimat+attracts+attention+next+potential+boom+town/8139955/story.html
http://www.vancouversun.com/million+Prince+Rupert+rail+road+project+boost+northern+resource+development/8071312/story.html
When considering the “golden triangle” of Kitimat-Prince Rupert-Terrace, the hub it will be feeding from can be urban centres such as Nanaimo, Victoria, Vancouver, Abbotsford, Kamloops. They are all within 375 to 400 nautical miles of Terrace.
Prince George is just over half that distance, but the others have various advantages including
1. the actual source of most goods and services
2. the greatest source of workers prepared to fly in and out.
3. for those workers and their families staying at “home”, superior access to most amenities whether entertainment, active recreational activities, choice of schooling for children, access to better quality and variety of jobs fro spouses left at home.
Some people will certainly chose PG, but given the choice, cities such as Abbotsford and Chilliwack, as well as Nanaimo may fare better than PG.
Of course, much of that will only be during the construction phases, although they may last for a total staged decade or more.
I am wondering whether there are any companies who are having preliminary looks at such logistics yet, or whether they will simply face them when they know that they are getting closer to go ahead.
So, looking at number 3 above ….. I really do not know why PG should worry about making this community more livable …. says I, tongue in cheek.
2500 workers on the Rio Tinto new alum plant in Kitimat has been going on for almost 4 years.
Main contractor is Bechtel and they have been co-ordinating people in and out of that site for quite sometime.
Remember that the direct flight to Calgary (much to the chagrin of PG Airport) actually originated in Terrace with a stop over in Prince George. This will continue to be the case as Highway 37 opens up, and some of those mines get running. Plus, perhaps, maybe, one or possibly two LNG plants in the next 10 years.
We will have the Port of Prince Rupert, Skagway, and Stewart to handle all the production from these mines.
Last but not least will be the oil pipeline that (if approved) will run 40 miles North of Prince George to Prince Rupert,/Kitimat and have very little if anything to do with PG.
Pr George needs to develop its own economy, and attract people here, rather than try and hitch a ride on every capital venture from Ft St John, MacKenzie, Houston, Terrace, Kitimat, and Pr Rupert.
Some people will tell you that Prince George is not very far removed from being a welfare town, inundated with retired people, and surrounded by Government workers. They would not be far from the truth.
Its time for us to grow up. The last example of snow removal in a winter city, and the dubious distinction of being the pot hole capital of Canada, should give you some insight into how far we have fallen.
We need to start to deal with reality, and remove ourselves from the world of fantasy.
So, I looked at the Rio Tinto site and perused the jobs that are available.
Looked at Electrical transmission Supervisor and compared the job tasks to how someone like Bill Gaal and some other senior managers relate to their supervisors at City Hall. If they would be employed by Rio Tinto, I bet it would be like a foreign office for them.
Here is the link:
http://jobs.riotinto.ca/browse/jobs/supervisor-transmission-distribution-HR0059748
For those who prefer cut and paste .. :-) … so they do not have to click through, here are some parts:
The successful candidate will lead the team in its quest for zero incidents, operational excellence and a high level of commitment. More precisely, the incumbent will:
â¢Promote a culture of zero incidents and encourage good behaviours by acting as a coach to attain the zero incident target and by proactively identifying and addressing HSE risks using existing tools and appropriate systems.
â¢Clarify targets and commit to meeting them.
â¢Concentrate on PROBLEM-SOLVING EFFICIENCY WITH EMPLOYEES, make fair and equitable decisions in terms of HSE, productivity, costs, quality and commitment.
â¢Make sure roles and responsibilities are well defined in order to minimize grey areas, risks and losses.
â¢Understand current processes, standards and systems, make sure they are understood by and available to employees and that employees can contribute to their improvement, if needed.
â¢Engage the team in achieving an effective communication strategy, by keeping messages clear and SEEKING EMPLOYEES’ OPINIONS TO DRIVE BETTER PERFORMANCE.
â¢Manage personnel under his/her direct responsibility and DEVELOP A WORK ENVIRONMENT THAT IS CONDUCIVE TO THE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT OF RESULTS, in compliance with current rules and regulations.
â¢DEMONSTRATE KINDNESS AND ACTIVE LISTENING to detect situations requiring additional attention and/or support.
â¢Ensure and maintain an appropriate level of skills among team members and SUPPORT PERFORMANCE THROUGH EMPLOYEES’ CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT.
â¢ENCOURAGE INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM PERFORMANCE BY REGULARLY RECOGNIZING OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AND GOOD BEHAVIOURS.
â¢QUICKLY IDENTIFY AND MANAGE EMPLOYEES WITH POOR PERFORMANCE and deviant behaviours with the help of superiors and HR.
â¢MAINTAIN A HEALTHY WORK ENVIRONMENT BY SEIZING ALL OPPORTUNITIES TO DEMONSTRATE VALUES OF RESPECT, TEAMWORK, RESPONSIBILITY AND INTEGRITY.
From what I have been hearing and reading, City Hall is not a work place that works in that fashion. Then again, maybe Rio Tinto is no different either, they just tell a good story.
Has anyone on here had any experience with Rio Tinto?
You’ve been around long enough gus to realize that that long list of qualifications to simply a pie in the sky wish list written in that weird offshoot of the English language called HR-aneese.
When push comes to shove they would hire someone named Gill Baal, whose last job was operations manager at a medium sized city in central BC, if no better suited candidates submitted a CV:)
make that….IS simply
True enough lonesome sparrow. I thought maybe Rio Tinto was an unusual company. But you had to burst that bubble with some of your sense of reality …. :-)
Interesting sounding name, this “Gill Baal” …. ;-)
All this expert advice when in fact you CANNOT drive the economy with tax dollars. The economy must be driven by enterprise and a demand for its services.
Cheers
Local contractor Houle Electric had their own bus they used for the Mount Milligan construction to bus employees to the mine site from Prince George used by about 30 or so electricians on a regular basis. For their Rio Tinto contract in Kitimat they open up a new satellite office and have brought in electricians from as far away as the USA. Most of the engineers are based in Burnaby, so the employment is spread through the province. Its likely similar for the other trades as well.
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