TALK IS CHEAP!

Humm... I've heard that people on Johnson road have already been offered money for their property.

Jan 13th. 2007 Federal Resources Minister Gary Lunn announces that the Federal Government will put $11 Million dollars into the Airports Runway Expansion Plan.

Statement by General Manager Steig Hoeg PG Airport Authority same day:

**One of the reasons we staged to 10 (thousand feet) was to co-ordinate with the Prince Rupert Port opening. If all things go well, and we certainly have done the planning to make it happen, we will see pavement open to accomodate 747s when Ruperts container port is open**

Prince Rupert port is scheduled to open October 1st. 2007.

Sept. 23/06. The Airport Authority has laid out a business case that shows the project is a money maker, with just less than 30 refueling stops a week over a 20-year period.

Part of press release from PGAA. The PGAA runway project encompasses a runway extension to 11,400ft with supporting infrastructure allowing the PGAA to take advantage of their geographic location and 24/7 operations and step into the international fueling forum servicing flights to and from North America, Europe, and China. This runway is scheduled to be open November 2007

Hoag is now saying that they have to get started immediately (August) in order for the project to be completed by the fall of 2008. No more talk about the Prince Rupert Container Terminals connection with the Airport Expansion.

If the Airport Expansion is actually built we will have had Container Trains running through Prince George to the American Mid-West for a year, and of course loaded containers going from Prince George to Prince Rupert without any assistance from the Airport Expansion. Is there any connections between the two? I dont think so.

"...Stieg Hoeg, says time is running out “We need to know soon to enable us to start construction in August in order for this project to be completed by the fall of 2008..."

Businesses are always saying that projects have to work around the weather to be cost effective, or viable. And all layer/levels of government are populated by people that have never worked outside, so I don't expect the funds to be advanced until the money can't be spent for another year.

Just another example of why governments can't run a business, unless they have unlimited funds like the gun registery.

I think PG will have a good oportunity to collect the throughput traffic going directly to Chicago with no need for warehouse fingerprints on the goods they would be hauling. The key to PG will be NASCAR fast refueling turn around times with good fuel on the offering. A side bonus would be the availability to any potential assembly plant locating in PG for a 'just-in-time' assembly process that requires an air-link to the inter-continental airfrieght logistic network, and container freight access to the world.

Time Will Tell

On a binge, he just promised Kamloops 6.6 mil for airport expansion there. Now the race will be on as to who gets the money first or if ever. Promises promises

This money will be delayed until just before the next Federal Election and then it will be given out with great fanfare. At that point the Federal Government could care less whether the project is feasible or not, because it will want to get as much mileage as possible out of the announcement.

Dont forget that the Federal Government owns the Airport so in effect the $11 Million will go to improvement to its own plant, and will make no difference to them in the long run whether planes land here or not.

Its all politics, and taxpayers money. Not one red cent from Private Enterprise.

IMO we're missing the point here! Even if I didn't have the cheque yet, if I KNEW I was going to recieve one, and also knew HOW MUCH that cheque was going to be, I could then BEGIN the project, based on that fact. This is the position Kamloops has just been handed. You can bet your boots they're going to run with it !

All we have up here so far is words, promises, and empty pockets, (we're told), so to speak, on this issue. On the other hand, Kamloops can now proceed to the next step, and once they're into construction based on the promises made, no politician in his right mind is going to take the weight on his own shoulders of scuttling the project when its half completed, especially if it comes on a time when we're coming up on an election. !

I suspect strongly that someone, or group of someone's, is playing this out very carefully, so that their choice of city for the some big time airport inprovements, (Kamloops), gets the upper hand, while it looks like Prince George bungled their own chances by dithering away every chance it got of their own accord.

They need not look far for support for their cause. Palopu could probably garner a good supply of naysayers up and around here for starters. There's probably lots more that would love to tell the community what a dumb idea airport expansion in Prince George would be.

Getting real facts from them will be quite the challenge though.

Like Chadermando says -- time will tell !

Palomino. I have the facts.

No. (1) Fedex has gone on record stating that even if the Prince George Airport Runway is expanded they have no intention of locating in Prince George, they will continue to use Anchorage Alaska. (I suspect the other big couriers DHL, UPS,would do the same) See Prince George Citizen article by Mark Nielsen December 13,2005.

No. (2) I have personally discussed the situation with the Manager of the Anchorage International Airport, and they advised.
(a) They have no congestion problem, and if fact their current Master Plan calls for an additional runway in the future that will handle any increase in traffic.

(b) They have no problem accessing Jet Fuel and have two suppliers from the State of Alaska, and one by ship from the Pacific Northwest (Seattle) with the ability to increase supply to meet any future demand.
(c) 95% of the cargo flights that operate through Anchorage are destined for the U.S. A stop in Canada increases the carrier's regulatory compliance requirements. The carrier currently has export requirements with their home country, import requirements with U.S. Customs, and would add a third level of requirements from Canadian Customs.

In addition to the above Carriers are in the process of buying bigger aircraft, with longer ranges, which of course would reduce the need to stop and refuel.

In addition there is an acute shortage of Airlines available that can or will carry air freight. The cost associated with Air Freight is prohibitive and unless you have huge volumes like DHL FEDEX UPS, then in some cases you are better off, not handling Cargo at all, and in fact some airlines dont.

I agree that the local people should be taking the initiative to get this project started, but guess what?? The Airport Authority has no money. They are for all intents and purposes broke. They couldnt start this project even if they wanted to. What are they doing with the $11 Million that was loaned to them by the Northern Trust Initiative??? I suspect that they cannot access this money until they get a commitment from the Feds and the Province. If they can access it then they should have got started long ago. The Kamloops Airport is being expaned for Tourism. The Prince George Airport wants to expand to fuel Cargo Jets. Two different concepts.

Now as far as facts go, that is one thing that I notice consistantly on this site. Most posts are based on wishful thinking, best guesses, etc; very rarely on fact.

You Palomino now have an opportunity to give us all the facts that are available to indicate that this project will in fact take place, and be a viable operation over the years. Give us some names of people (Other that Airport Authority personel) who are making any investments. Im betting that you cannot come up with any facts at all, however feel free to prove me wrong.

Pilopu, all of what you say can be correct and it does not dismiss the fact that for certain routes from south Asia direct to the golden triangle with only one refueling stop then PG would be an ideal location. Intentions to warehouse would not fit into that equation; only how fast the plane could be refueled with cheep high quality fuel. Time is money in logistics.

In addition this is a project that once built has very little operating costs associated with it. But the oportunities are endless in a world where industry can locate anywhere and favours places with inplace infrastructure especially shipping related.

I think its a no brainer just based on the hypothetical possibilities alone.

Chandermando. Your premise would be correct if not for the following.

The Air Miles from Tokyo to Anchorage are much less than Tokyo to Vancouver, or Prince George BC. What this means is that airlines leaving Tokyo (as an example) going to Prince George would have to carry extra fuel to go the extra miles, which of course means that they would have to reduce the amount of cargo they could carry.

They can go to Anchorage with less fuel and a full payload of Cargo and then refuel and access anywhere in the Continental USA.

It is highly unlikely that they would fly extra miles with less cargo in order to refuel in Prince George, essentially giving up revenue to carry costs.

Anchorage did not go from nothing to 700 Wide body cargo flights a week for no reason. UPS, FEDEX, DHL, etc; did not locate there and build distribution warehouses there for no reason. Anchorage is a full blown functioning Airport, and it will be very difficult for us to pry any business away from them.

Ya, just like the port of Vancouver and the Prince Rupert port!

Yama. We have no way to determine if the Containers coming through Prince Rupert to the US Midwest would have come through Vancouver. Its quite possible this traffic would have been going through LA or San Francisco, or Seattle, or Mexico. The decision to go through Prince Rupert was made by Mayer Terminals of New Jersey, a huge (American) container handling Co., by CN Rail, head office in Chicago Ill, and at this point Cosco Shipping a huge China Shipping co. Nothing to do with Prince George.

To handle the outbound through Prince Rupert rather than Vancouver creates some jobs for Prince Rupert at the expense of Vancouver however this is not a net gain for BC. So unless you feel Prince George gets some benefit from jobs in Vancouver, or from jobs in Prince Rupert I dont see how business in these cities have any effect on Prince George. Both are 500 miles from Prince George, and both export products from this area.

If there are going to be any wide body cargo flights landing and taking off in Prince George it will be decided by the large American Airlines, and the large American/European Courier companies. Ie; FEDEX, DHL, UPS, etc; I havent heard anything yet to indicate that they are the lease bit interested.

We will have to wait and see.