LOL - Okay this is directed at the Editors and Proof Readers of the articles in here.. IT's YXS not XYS. You might want to ensure people are getting the acronyms correct before posting thins.. Especially if your going to use it in your Headline.

YXS | Prince George Airport | Prince George, BC, Canada | Welcomes You
International airport serving Prince George and northern British Columbia.
www.pgairport.ca/

If its just going to Vancouver I wouldnt bet on the "enormous fuel up" ....

its nice that PG can be turned into Overflow parking .... Normally this wouldve landed at abbotsford, kelowna or Victoria and waited

Actually Bowzone, Idoubt any of the airports you mentioned have a long enough runway to accomodate the size of this plane. That is why, we built it, and they will come..... eventually

He Spoke it can land at all those airports.
Kelowna airport runway, 8900 feet long, now problem. Victoria 7000 feet no problem. Abbotsford 9600 feet. By the way Abbotsford is spending 30 million just on a taxiway.

You need a spell check as well Spider...lol...
we had one of these aircraft land here long before they spent all that money making the runway longer...
Will we sell them fuel or do they have enough to get back to Vancouver?
Will they stay here or fly down to Vancouver and back later?
Hopefully they at least by a coffee and donut....
As this is happening I guess we should be thankful for the Olympics....

He Spoke. This is IL 76 and does not require a long runway to land or take off.
Landing space required is 450 metres. The plane has reverse thrusters to slow it down. It could have landed at any of the Airports mentioned by bowzone. In fact this plane was designed to land on earthen runways, in the remote parts of Russia (Siberia)

So why come to Prince George for parking.

Excessive availabe space is certainly one thing. We have plenty.

The Prince George Airport Authority has incorperated its landing and take off fees (which usually run at approx $2000.00) into the price of the fuel. They then state that they have no landing or take of fees, when if fact they are hidden in the fuel charges. The Oil Company then pays the Airport a percentage of the fuel cost, which is of course equivalent to a landing and take off fee. This is called ***Smoke and mirrors**

Its within the realm of possibility that the Airport waived their portion of the fuel costs on the 747, and the IL 76 to entice them to land here. This is only speculation on my part, however there has to be a reason above and beyond the storage space.

In any event it will be interesting to see the Aircraft.

Don't know what the big fuss isabout. We landed the Russian Antenov here a few years ago before the runway was lengthened. We also landed the Galexy C5 out of the U.S.For our long gone air show.

Wow three separate articles telling us of the landing of one lonely Russian aircraft.
The runway expansion has really paid off then.

The Antonov 225 is the largest Aircraft in the World. Would have loved to have seen him come in.

Ok - this is going to come off rude no matter how I put it, so please forgive me Ben and Elaine. Feel free to edit or delete. I just HAVE to ask what Palopu does for a living (or did for a living if he is retired) so I can try to POSSIBLY grasp his posts. EVERYTHING is bad. We cannot move forward at all. Between ranting about the new bridge and the airport expansion I have to wonder if some people wish we still had horse drawn carriages?
Again, this is with all due respect...

Interceptor. If you care to take some time to try and understand my posts you would see that I am trying to get the facts (such as they are) on the different projects, etc; that take place in Prince George.

My main concern at any given moment is that most stories are reported as being positive, and good for Prince George, and they do not go into any detail as to the downside. In other words HYPE.

If all we get is spin and hype, then we live in a dream world. There are two sides to every story and it is (in my opinion) necessary to put both sides out there. People can then beleive whatever the hell they wish.

You have to remember that usually these news stories are nothing more than press releases by the vested interest groups.,

Do you really beleive that the Boeing 747, or the Il 76 actually came to Prince George because it was a smart busisness decision to do so. Or would you beleive that the Airport Authority offered them some sort of incentive to come here??

One must keep in mind that we have spent $36 Million dollars on this runway expansion and to date we have received 2 Aircraft landing here. Both of which may have received some sort of incentive to do so. Its pretty obvious to me that the Airport Authority personel are somewhat embarrassed by this, and are doing everything possible to try to put on a brave face/

This Airport Runway expansion, and the dream of a global distribution centre, was a flawed project from the get go. It was conceived by people with little or no expertise in the Air Cargo business, and of course had the blessing of politicians who are always looking for publicity to get re-elected.

One of the main people behind the Runway Expansion is no longer with the Airport Authority, and no one will give us any reasons for his leaving. All we know is that he received a severence of approx $400,000.00 and probably an agreement to remain silent.

We are talking about the expenditure of millions of dollars for the Airport Runway, the Cameron St., Bridge, the Boundry Road Cut Off, the Police Station, the Performing Arts Centre, the the Community Energy Plan. These projects will cost us (conservativly) $170 Million .

Has it never occured to you that all these projects (for the most part)are being pushed by politicians, or by people who earn their living on tax dollars.

So the question is; Do we really need these projects? Who benefits the most? Who loses.

People seem to have difficulty understanding things. As an example when we complete the new police station it will be the 3rd new police station built in Prince George in the last 50 years. I doubt if any other City in Canada has built three new police stations. So we have to take responsibility for incompentent planning, or excessive spending. We cant have it both ways.

In other words we are being royally shafted by various levels of Governments spending money wiley niley on all sorts of (border line insane) projects and at the end of the day, we have to pay huge dollars for our garbage pick-up, we have to bounce around on absolutely horrendus roads, and we have to close schools. Why?? Because our tax dollars are wasted on pet projects by vested interest groups, and politicians.

The story above states that Doherty doesnt have a dollar figure on the Planes extended stay, then goes on to talk about the benefits to the local stores and hotels.

The fact of the matter is the Prince George Airport Authority has a tariff on thier website that tells you exactly what they charge per day for storage of an Aircraft. In addition they also have an agreement with Shell Oil that pays them 1.75 cents per litre for refueling these (so called) cargo planes. So we can see that he could have very easily given us a dollar figure if he chose to. Why didnt he??? The fact that he didnt leads me to beleive that they cut this plane some sort of a deal.

In any event we can safely assume that with the storage and fuel the Airport would gross something like $2500.00 to $3000.00. Not much in terms of dollars, but good P.R.

If anyone on these posts can show me anything specific, or in writing where we have any sort of a contract, or understanding, with any Air Cargo Carrier, anywhere in the World to locate anytime soon, in Prince George, I certainly would like to hear about it. Also if anyone has any information on any large distribution company who has made any overtures to locate in Prince George because of the possibility of Air Cargo jets landing, here. Or of any world class passenger jets who plan to stop in Prince George to refuel and pick up or drop off passengers.

Give me some facts. Not hype.

BCRacer - When I originally left the post it was listed as XYS.. I sent an Email to the Editor, as it was also listed as XYS in another article.

Someone replied to me thanking for the notice, and obviously corrected it.. LOL. Good to see people actually read their mail.

Palopu - Interesting take on the matter. However there is an old saying in Business.. You sometimes have to spend money to make money. This is exactly the case going on here.

They have spent all this money to upgrade the facilities. Now comes the advertising part. It's like building any new business. You need to get yourself known to your customers.

Most of the time, this done through some Grand Opening Sale ext.. Where you offer major incentives for people get in your doors and look around.

In this case, the business is the international Aircraft Market. The main goal of this project is to tap into some of the business being done in Alaska, the major hub for aircraft coming in from Eastern Europe and Asia.. It's a main Fed-Ex stop over for refueling ext there as well.

In order to make carriers think about us, we have to give them a reason to. That starts by making it cheaper, as the bottom line means allot to these companies.

Once the business starts to flow in, then we wow them with quick turn around service ext.. Whatever it is they require.

It's the same thing, pretty much every major airport in the world has done. You start small, and then grow. A good example of the same process is Abbostford Airport. They are now a good hub of allot of things..

That might be an old saying in business but don't confuse the airport expansion with business. No business would spend this kind of money without having already lined up some customers. Can you imagine going into a bank with a business plan that said you needed to borrow $36 million but you don't know how you are going to bring any money in to pay for it? You'd be thrown out. Even if you won $36 million in the lottery and you put it into the airport expansion, people would think you were an idiot. Well they didn't WIN this money. It was paid for with taxpayer dollars........hard-earned dollars for most of us.

I'm totally for the airport expansion but NOT the way it's been totally mismanaged. It should have been treated like a business with some prospect for return on investment. This fiasco is a total embarrassment for PG.

Great post Papolu.

Airport expansion looked viable before the bankers flatened the economy. Aircargo went into a tailspin, sorry couldn't help myself.

An open note to Palopu..

I am continually befuddled and amused at the endless amount of garbage you spew and to those who believe and allow you the venue or platform to do so.

You obviously have too much time on your hands and are so jaded, negative and without any form of a life that you have to find fault in any positive event or development for our city, region and province.

I pity you.

Mr. Palopu if you have so much time and ALL the answers - please indulge us all - for that matter please SAVE us all from what is obviously a path of lies and destruction - and please come forward to run for the next municipal election or volunteer for some of these boards.

Pileopoo - I'm asking you to put your money where your mouth is, to finally take a stand in person - real life.

Affect change, don't hide behind a pseudonym - get things done for a change - your way ..no secrets!!

I am willing to wager that you are the person in the back row of the forums and public meetings - diligently taking notes, living and breathing on every word the corporation - the man - speaks. Hoping to catch them in the lie, highlighting various quotes and figures in the annual reports and media - to prove to yourself that the painful little existence you've created for yourself - has some form of meaning. Sad.

The total embarrassment for PG (your friend gitterdun) is that this site or for that matter anyone gives you a continual soapbox for which to poison anything positive.

Step forward sir...I ask of you - stand up and be seen and heard.

Alas...I fear that unfortunately Palopu will remain anonymous - hiding and continually filling the uneducated with facts and figures that he so aptly pulls out to try and discredit the tireless efforts of those teams committed and outspoken in their pursuit of a better Prince George, Northern BC and province.

What a miserable existence you must have...not being able to trust in anything...perhaps if you ventured out a little more ..opened the curtains, stepped away from the computer, showered and got a life you'd see that all is not lost - the sun comes up every morning and there is some good in our city, region and province. That those people and organizations who you continue to bash and that you suggest you have inside information on - are really and truly trying to do positive things for our community.

Good research Palopu. Thanks for the good work. As for believeinPR -attacks ad hominem show the weakness of your position. Refute any positions of other posters if you can. Otherwise you are just spouting.

Good facts you bring to the debate Palopu. You help to make it an informed debate, rather than an exercise in name calling by vested interests that attack those who won't agree with their version of reality.

I would rather hear both sides of an issue and make up my mind with all the facts on the table, and not just the selected hype sold by politicians and their vested interest groups. That's what makes Opinion250 the success it is and that is what offends people who have no respect for an informed public so that the public can make informed decisions when they vote.

BelieveinPG shows a weak argument with the attacks on transparency of public administration, and undermines his/her own position in the process.

Here Here, Palopu!

I guess some people must like how our Government is run lately!

omgness some of you people are amazing, this was a story about a Russian plane landing here! and just look what it turned into!! sheesh!!

and it all started with someone correcting the pg airport acronyms!!

I don't care why the plane landed here or how long it is going to be parked here, as long as people are aware that we(PG) are up here and can accommodate such aircraft it is all good!!

word of mouth is a great thing, however I would feel somewhat embarrassed should some visitor to PG or thinking about coming to PG would read some of the posts on this site and the majority of the negativity that flows from PG residents I would have to say that I would re-think coming to such a community!!

I love PG and all it has to offer, all of its ups and downs!! it is life and well hey you do have to learn to roll with the punches!!