Oh, I thought there was hurdles on the runway, and that was causing the planes from not landing.

No mention of assistance from our two local MPs.

They are too busy. Doing whatever.

I gotta love dreamers...

Would love to be the one to burst their bubble...

I think it was 'DREAMERS' who put a man on the moon, built the first aircraft, a rail line from the Atlantic to the Pacific ect, ect. People with a vision can make it happen with a bit of work. Then there are the people who would much rather sit back and say.....'yeah right, why waste the money, put it to good use like supporting bums!'

Good on you Maverick
I'll take a dreamer any day over a naysayer.
The negative people seldom accomplish anything because they are too busy finding why it can't be done instead of how it can be done.
The world is full of "woulda coulda shoulda's".
How would you like to go on an extended fishing trip with some of these guys
"See I told you we would never catch any fish".
"We could have stayed home and watched TV".
"We shoulda gone to another lake".

You get the idea.
Never solve a problem just say it won't work.
That way you save yourself a lot of work.

From my point of view we are getting far too much information. Who cares whether they sole sourced or not?

What I care about is whether these things are becoming matters that are preventing potential clients from signing on. I would hope that the YXS management is accommodating potential client needs.

Did anyone know that the feasibility report identified that it would take about 3 years before the first client would sing on? I know that is news to me. However, it is reasonable and I would not have expected otherwise.

What is abundantly clear to me from the information provided by Gibson is that as with many such major shifts in operations a specialist in this area of cargo should have been hired before the runway was even started. When simple things such as fuel storage and apron space to take several planes are not properly taken care of from the start but become afterthoughts, it seems to me there is something that could have been handled better.

As they say, live and learn.

The other thing that appears to be clear is that one has difficulty influencing changes in regulations unless one is part of the inner circle of airports that have the right kind of facility.

The airport took a risk. I believe one needs to take risks in order to progress. Being among the first to be there when change comes is advantageous.

Gus. I agree with most of what you say, however dont confuse taking a **risk** with making bad decisions.

This Airport Wide Body Cargo Jet/Passenger/Tech Stop idea was a bad decision from the start. You dont just build an airstrip in the middle of nowhere and expect people to use it.

People seem to forget that Calgary tried this idea and it didnt work. All the BS about being closer to China etc; is just that. BS. There are direct flight (Approx 14 per week) from Vancouver to China, so we know that, that works. We also know that the newer passenger flights can fly direct from New York to Hong Kong non stop.

We also know that 700 wide body cargo flights per week land in Anchorage Alaska, and most of the major carriers have warehouse and distribution facilities in Anchorage. In additon they have pilot accomodation for hundreds of pilots, who actually live in Anchorage and fly back and forth between China and Anchorage, and the Eastern US and Anchorage.

Anchorage is not about to give up any business without a fight. Also this type of busniness is about economies of scale. You cannot make any money by having two or three flights per week landing in Prince George and fueling up. You need big numbers and big tonnage.

Its rather late in the day to be looking at the hurdles stopping this idea. The fact that there are hurdles indicates that they never did their homework.

Steve Hoeg is no longer with the Airport Authority, he got a $400,000.00 severence package and was shown the door. There was a reason for this, however we might never know what it is, but I would bet that it is directly related to this **unused** airstrip, and the expenditure of $36 Million without any return on investment.

Since 2003 the Airport Improvement Fees have gone from $5.00 to $10.00 to $15.00 to $18.00. These fees generate approx $1.5 Million per year for the Airport, and are the only thing keeping the Airport Authority afloat.

Anyone who thinks that building this Airstrip was a consequence of vision is drinking something pretty strong. At best you could call it impaired vision, or limited vision, on lack of vision, but you certainly cannot call it vision.

How long does the runway have to lie dormant until someone with some intestinal fortitude makes an unqualified statement, that it was a **mistake**.

10 Years?????

"Steve Hoeg is no longer with the Airport Authority, he got a $400,000.00 severence package and was shown the door. There was a reason for this, however we might never know what it is, but I would bet that it is directly related to this **unused** airstrip, and the expenditure of $36 Million without any return on investment."

I have a good idea why he was "shown the door" and it had nothing to do with that.

The decisions to go in that direction was obviously not made without full Board knowledge and acceptance.

Try to look at it this way.

Gibson seems to have some better experience at this. Assuming that he was not on his way out at his previous job back east, he chose this job and accepted that he would have to deal with the extended runway and lack of other support facilities as well as questionable airport capacity and legislation to handle international cargo beyond simple tech stops.

If he knows what he is doing, then he would have realized there were challenges and he accepted them because he felt they could be overcome.

Knowledgeable professionals typically do not set themselves up for failure. They will go for an interview, take in the environment, and decline the job offer if it is given and they feel they cannot meet the expectations of the Board.

Maverick, I agree with your comment 100%!

Obviously we have our advantages here in Prince George and the gateway to the container port of Prince Rupert and the port of Kitimat, not to forget the railway connections and the junction of the two major highways.

The middle of nowhere would be perhaps the middle of the Sahara desert, but it certainly isn't where the airport of Prince George is located.

When the decisions were made to go ahead with the studies for a runway for cargo jets, the worldwide economic collapse and the collapse of the American banking system did not even register on the horizon of the most knowledgeable gurus and gnomes who thought the merry-go-round would keep going around forever merrily.

Let's just say that the funds were invested here in P.G - that is a good thing because if they had not been spent HERE they most certainly would have been used ELSEWHERE!

We have an airport with the third longest runway in Canada and all we have to do now is get the business - with the main ace in the hole (the facility is ready) we have a large up on others!