Until such time as we land our "FIRST" jumbo jet, Ben? Much as I'm sure the eventual arrival of a single 747 cargo plane will be ballyhooed by the local promoters as a raving success...I guarantee you it will take a steady stream arriving daily to silence the cynics.

The airstrip alone cost almost $40 million. By the time we are ready to truly compete with a place like Anchorage for all of the grandiose plans they have made...it will be at least triple that in investments (mostly with taxpayer dollars).

Please don't insult our intelligence by suggesting that the first jumbo jet to land will be enough to keep the skeptics at bay, or intimate that somehow one or two planes per month will be enough to see a return on investment on this white elephant.

I bet they just can't see us!!! City hall otta form a committee, hire a lower rainland company to do a study $$$, build some lights, flashing..brightly.. speakers blasting..$$$. Then find out they won't work if covered in snow and if its cold outside. Maybe even send our finest from city hall to China....for a look see. Then upon returning, tell the tax payers a hell of a tale about how it will pay for itself....generate a whole lot of revenue to pay for the pot holes...a PAC...snow removal and what ever else needs extra cash. I think thats the way its done.

Here is a rather interesting quote that I read somewhere.

**Faith unaccompanied by rigorous skepticism, is a recipe for myopia, and foolishness**

The 737-400 Jumbo Passenger jet has a range of 8350 Miles. It can fly non-stop from Hong Kong to New York. The Cargo jets from East to West could probably fly somewhere into the mid USA before requiring refueling, however most of them stop in Anchorage because this allows them to take a heavier payload of freight and less fuel, and refuel in Anchorage for the balance of the trip to USA Destinations. All major carriers have huge warehouses and distribution systems in Ancorage for the handling of Freight. In addition they have accomodation for their pilots, and a large number of pilots actually live in Anchorage.

None of these facilities are available in Prince George and are not likely to be so anytime soon.

In addition when flying West from Prince George into the Jet Stream airlines would have to take less Cargo and more fuel in order to make the trip. This is not cost effective, and is another reason why they land at Anchorage.

Hoeg stated on Bens show sometime ago that they were not able to compete for traffic going West, and were concentrating on those flights that went from South East Asia East only. This of course limits the number of players in the field.

At best we will end up fueling a few airplanes, which will generate very few jobs, and very little revenue for the local Airport.

This is more about being seen to be doing something, than about doing something. Another Political ploy.

I believe in time when the facilities are built here to transfer cargo we will start to see things happen. We have good rail and road links to the rest of Canada and all the U.S. It is much much cheaper to haul cargo by land than air so aircraft could deliver and pickup the cargo here. Anchorage does not have any land ties,yet. Now if the railway is built to Alaska that could be a problem for us. Gov. Palin is actively working on that. We should be developing our market share before that happens.

Seamutt. Air Cargo is very expensive, and time sensitive. You would never haul anything by rail or truck for any distance and then load it on a plane, nor would you do the reverse and fly anything into Prnce George by air, and then have it delivered somewhere else by truck or rail.

You would load it at the nearest continental airport and fly it to whatever destination it is going to. If it wasnt time sensitive then you would load it in containers and ship it via truck or rail then ship.

There is no economic good reason to fly Cargo into Prince George only to have it go somewhere else. Any air Cargo in Anchorage is either going to South East Asia, or coming from there, and Anchorage is used because it you can fly full loads in and out after refueling.

To set up a similiar operation in Prince George would be more expensive, and would at best be a duplication of what is already being done in Anchorage, and therefore would be foolish.

The Railway will be built to Alaska when pigs begin to fly.