Good.

Definitely good news.

Good socialist project all the money is coming from the tax payers for pie in the sky ideas. Definitley bad news for tax payers.

Isnt capitalism great feeding off the public trough.

Cheers.

Now it begins. The 11 Million loan will have to be paid back, and guess where the Airport will get the money. Airport Improvement Fees of course, which means that these fees will remain in effect for the next 20 years or more to pay for this expansion. The expansion can be built and paid for over 20 years or more from the Airport Improvement Fees whether they get any new business or not. With a profit of $42000.00 for 2005 its pretty obvious at this time that this Airport makes Zilch when it comes to making money. The previous year I beleive they lost $724,000.00 One of the reasons for the profit in 2004 was their ability to reduce staff, and cut costs.

Airport improvement fees must be used for (Guess What) airport improvements. If they do not make any improvements then they must either reduce or get rid of the fees. (Heaven forbid) Therefore they will always be looking for ways to spend this money, so they can keep collecting it and by extension keep their jobs secure.

Over time we will see if they actually get any further business. At this point the new terminal is under utilized, and I expect that when the Parking Lot is finished it will not be fully utilized, and when the runway expansion is finished it will be under utilized. Time will tell.

The airport is big business, bring it on. I would be happy to pay improvement fees...for the little I travel.

Holy crap!!! All anyone can talk about is we need to diversify the economy and someone announces just that and everybody starts complaining. This is a step in the right direction. We need it. I have heard that the refueling is only going to bring about 300 jobs but that is a start at least. I know it is cliche but Rome wasn't built in a day. With the falling timber prices lets bask in some good news for a change. At very least the constuction jobs will be a big boost to the economy. Also the jets need a lot of fuel, we have a refinery here, lets expand it too.

As for under utilization you can't expect the thing to work at capacity when it first opens. Ask any business owner it takes time. Once the facilities are in place people will come. For example, i never expected the multiplex/ CN Center to draw the events it has.

I have to agree with travism this is going to be good for Prince George.Now get out thier and figure out how to capitalize on it stop complaining.

Ditto to travism and fedup. Hey, you think PG could borrow some money to fix the North Nechako bridge..

Travism. The CN Multiplex is drawing more events because they book more there and less at the New Civic Centre which sits empty most of the year. The CN Multiplex loses $380,000.00 to $400,000.00 per year. You call this good business?? Its only possible to make stupid decisions like this, if its done with taxpayers money. Private enterprise would be broke by now.

In addition the local Husky Refinery does not. I REPEAT DOES NOT MAKE JET FUEL. It would have to come in from Edmonton Alta.

To the best of my knowlege their is no sound business plan in effect at the Airport that could give you a good indication as to how much business, or where it will come from in the next 10 years. So far every statements have been **fuzzy**

I know they don't make jet fuel, there is no market in Prince George, that is why I said lets expand it now that we are getting one. Also I have been told that the change over from Diesel to Keorsene is minimal.

As for the CN center, you would never get the events like the Tragically Hip, Motley Crue etc there. You may not feel it is worth while, but most will disagree with you. We need the events. So yes they may loose some money but it is worth it. It was built to provide culture and entertainment not make the city a bunch of money. It is accomplishing its goal. And if the cougars had a winning season it would probably do both.

Fuzzy is a great word. If you were the decision maker for a major corporation would you say yes for sure I will set up there if you build the runway? No you would give a fuzzy commitment and wait and see what the facilities look like. If you liked them then you would build. You can't have a major tech stop airport without a runway, the runway is the first component.

oops I ment to put Civic center instead of cn center in the first line of the second paragraph.

Correct me if Im wrong travism but it takes High Test Jet Fuel to get a Jet off the Ground, and after they are up and flying, they then switch to Kerosene. In any event Husky Oil (Owned by Chinese Billionare in Hong Kong) would not spend millions to expand this plant unless they had hard facts that they would get a return on their investment.

I agree that most of the venues at the CN Centre make some money, especially some of those you named. Other places like Vanier Hall, Playhouse, Theatre Northwest, also make some money. My point is that when the Civic Centre was built it was supposedly going to attract conventions from all over the world. Well the fact is it sits empty most of the year.

The CN Centre doesnt generate enough money to pay its operating costs, and therefore it has to be subsidized by the taxpayers to the tune of $380,000.00 per year. I dont suggest that they have to make money, however I do suggest that they should at least break even, however if we raised the prices of the hockey tickets, or other tickets they would lose more fans, and then of course lose more money. There are a lot of people in the City that do not see hockey as entertainment, and do not feel that they should be paying additional money in taxes so that hockey fans can get cheap tickets, and the owner can make money. The hockey fans get cheap tickets, the owners make a profit, and the taxpayer foots the bill. If the City owned the hockey club, your argument might have some validity, however because private business in making a profit at the expense of taxpayers, I disagree with you.

The reason the Airport Authority does not put out a business plan for the AirportRunway Expansion (I suspect) is because they dont have one.

Its about time.

My complaint is that the provincial and federal governments should have paid 100% of the cost.

The Northern Development Initiative should be used to support diversified small business start-ups not to let the provincial government get out of their responsibilities.

Whether or not it's the Provincial, Federal or the City funds, it's still our tax dollars that comes from our almost empty pockets as it is. Taxed to death is more the way it goes.