MINOR BUMP IN THE ROAD. IT WILL ALL COME TOGETHER SHORTLY. POLITICS HAS ITS OWN TIME TABLE.THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CN CONTAINER YARD TODAY WILL HELP.

Whats the big hurry, its not like we have huge Cargo Jets circling the Airport waiting to land.

I dont think that the Provincial Government has received a **Business Plan** for this expansion from the Airport Authority as yet.

In any event this **Project** is based over a 20 year period with absolutely no gaurantees of any business at this time, so one year in either direction will not make a whit of difference.

Its the same business only going to Prince George instead of Fairbanks. There will be some jobs gained and some jobs lost, so dont get too excited.

Where are they going to bring the pavement from?

Seems the city is bent on driving the paving companies out of town that we already have.

#1) How can it be another fast ferries? A; This is less then 3% the cost of the fast ferries. B; This is a one time cost with no carry over operating costs and risk, unlike the fast ferries.

#2) This is a great opportunity to provide some relocation incentive to the paving companies to the east of town if done in conjunction with other future projects envisioned in the area benefiting the air shed of PG bowl.

I see it as a simple one-time infrastructure investment a fraction of the tax return this area deserves with the ability to enable the whole region to vast new economic opportunities at a time of a looming economic catastrophe.

I think that we have to keep things in perspective.

(1) We have no business plan for this Airport Runway Expansion. (Yet)

(2) We do not have any indication yet that any Cargo Jets will actually land here.

(3) All the money being put into the Project is or will be Government money.
ie; 11 Million for the Provincial Government NTI fund.(loan) 11 Million from the Provincial Government (Maybe) and 11 Million from the Federal Government (Maybe). No private money invested.

This money is going to be spent by a board of directors and managers of the Airport Authority that were appointed by different levels of Government. What is their area of expertise, what are the chances that they can make the right decisions, and attract any business to this area??

As an example they say that fuel for the Jets will be cheaper in Prince George than Anchorage Alaska. How do they know this, where do they get their information from. There is no Jet Fuel manufactured in Prince George, it is I beleive brought in by Rail or Truck from Edmonton. If it is brought in by rail then it would have to be off loaded and trucked to the Airport which means more handling. If it is trucked in then the transportation costs would be in the same area as the costs to truck it into Anchorage from Jet Fuel facilities in the State of Alaska.

Contrary to the misleading information put out, it seems that Anchorage Alaska is in fact the best Circumpolar Route to Asia. This was determined by many people as far back as 1929, and Anchorage has had huge expansions on and off ever since. A lot of their expansion was because of the large American Military presence in Alaska, especially during the second world war. In any event they are fully established, have a huge Airport that handles 700 wide body cargo jets a week, have huge distribution warehouses to sort traffic from Asia for various Courier companies like UPS, FEDEX, DHL, etc;

We would have to take business away from Anchorage to get this project in Prince George off the ground, and I suspect that we would have a better chance to get the Kennedy Space Station re-located at Hixon, or Disneyland to re-locate in Vanderhoof.

Palopu- there, that settles it. Any effort to get the runway extended to attract business should be stopped immediatley. CN should take there inland terminal somewhere else! We don;t need any business.

If we could covert BS, negativity and whining to hydro, Palopu and Chadermando would be a huge industry. Careful where you locate it though!!

I agree red2b that the Airport Expansion should be stopped immediately however because they are spending taxpayers money it is highly unlikely that will happen.

What will happen is that they will build the extension for the runway and work diligently over the years to attract business, and 10 years down the road no one will remember that they actually extended it, or why they extended it, much like the new customs facility they built that sits empty 320 days of the year, or the new parking lot that was expanded and now has 200 empty spaces at any given moment. **Great projects however no new business**

What the CN does with their reload centre is there business. At least it is private money they are spending, not tax dollars, there is a big difference.

Other than a few cosmetic changes in the forest industrie in this area, I am not aware of any new private business that would generate any long term good jobs, and if you are aware of some, maybe you could share this information. Otherwise dont worry about me being negative (realistic) but worry about yourself and your delusions.

Timing is critical. Don't think that Asia is going to wait indefinitely for PG to get their runway extended. The time is now and it's only going to get more expensive to wait. No more feasibility studies. The money we spend on studies and the cost of waiting continues to bury us time after time.

If we are going to do it, it has to be based on potential business that will be generated. I trust that the necessary preparation has been done and it's time to move forward. Too much analysis causes paralysis.

If the business is viable, then why let any level of government hold up the deal. Would we not still go ahead with the deal if the Feds didn't participate? Chester

Chester. The Airport Authority doesnt have any money. In 2005 they made a profit of $40,000.00. They do not have enough money of their own to extend the bumper on their pick-up truck.

The money they get from Airport Improvement Fees approx $1,650,000.00 per year must be put into Airport Improvements. I dont know if the Customs Building has been paid for, or the new parking lot, however I doubt it.

This Airport Runway Expansion which apparently will cost $33 Million dollars will only take place in its entirety if they get the money from the Federal Government $11 Million, and the Provincial Government $11 Million. They have already borrowed $11 Million from the Northern Trust Initiative, which will have to be paid back over the next 10 years, with interest at the rate of inflation. (Money to pay it back will come from the $ 1,650,000.00 they collect each year from the Airport Improvement Fees (Head tax to board a plane)

So unless they get the Federal and Provincial money the best they will be able to do in the short term is to extend the Runway to 10,000 ft from 7,400 ft.

Their lease agreement with the Federal Government allows them to operate the Airport for 11 years without any leasing costs. After 11 years they will have to pay a percentage of their revenue to the Federal Government in lease payments, however if they do not have a boni fide operation within the next 9 years I suspect that this Airport will revert back to the Federal Government

In order for an Aiport Authority to be successful it needs lots of Air Passengers, (To generate revenue) and lots of business (To generate rent revenue) and lots of Airplanes landing and taking off to generate (Landing and take off fees).

The Vancouver Airport has all of the above and is very successful. It has paid the Federal Government something like 600 Million in lease payments in the last 9 years, and has spent Millions in improvements.

The Prince George Airport has none of the above, and was the last Airport Authority established in Canada, and it will be touch and go as to whether or not it will be a success.

Asia never waits. It runs all its business either on direct flights to the USA or via Anchorage Alaska. United Parcel Service started using Anchorage Alaska in 1977 and now operae 11 wide-body aprons in a 90,000 sq. ft. facility. Three of the eleven aprons are sized to accommodate the larger Airbus A380 Aircraft.

UPS is the 2nd largest cargo carrier serving Anchorage along with other prominent carriers such as FedEx, DHL, Northwest, China Airlines, Korean Airlines and others. UPS has major hubs in Miami, Ontario, and Louisville Ky. The other Airlines have hubs all over the Continental USA and a few in Eastern Canada.

Air Cargo Facilities are stratigically located through-out the world, because they service the world. As an example FedEx has a huge distribution facility in the Phillipines, which it uses in conjunction with their huge facilities in China.

The chances of these Companies setting up shop in Prince George or stopping here to fuel up, is very, very, remote.

I hope someone is on the phone to all the Cargo Airlines advising them that this expansion could be delayed for a year and that they will have to continue to use Anchorage Alaska, until we are ready for their business.