You're right on with this one Ben!! Something's really fishy here with the way this is being handled. Its virtually a no-brainer, that this upgrade to our airport will be a huge benefit to Prince George, and all its citizens, for generations to come.
When we see other cities like Kamloops, and even Cranbrook, begin to reap the benefits of having the forsight, and the balls to proceed with their own runway expansion, I hope those responsible for blowing it here will be held totally accountable for what they're doing to this city and its peoples.
We've already been told the money is available, and coming !! Is the airport authority now saying this is just a pack of lies ? What's really going on here ?

Like I say, --- something smells really, really fishy on this one!

BELL , BOND , HILL , RUSTAD , HARRIS....
ONE WOULD FIGURE THAT THERE IS ENOUGH BRAIN POWER AMONGST THESE FIVE TO REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS AIRPORT EXPANSION. ENOUGH SMOKE AND MIRRIORS PEOPLE . IT APPEARS THAT YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO ELECTED YOU AND WHO PAYS YOUR SALARY. GET THE LEAD OUT AND SHOW SOME LEADERSHIP. LETS NOT END UP A SHOULDA...COULDA COMMUNITY. THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL COULD DO A LITTLE MORE YELLING ABOUT THIS PROJECT ALSO.

I said a long time ago that this has been hyped up so much and the provincial and federal governments have been playing their little games with this.
Now the province says we have the money, not sure where we are going to get it from but we have it....
another hype up...
would be a whole lot better if they just said, you ain't getting it well maybe not until next year or when ever.
And of course Cambell's cronies aren't going to say anything against him, remember "Paul Nettleton"..
at least one of Campbell's hench people have nothing but being let go...services unneeded, wonder which one, maybe we can do all three!

It seems to me that if the money is coming, that the politicians would want to grant it closer to election time, so that they would get maximum mileage for the donation, however there is more to this issue than meets the eye.

(1) The Airport Authority leases the Airport from the Federal Government, and will commence to pay leasing costs in 2011. The contract for setting up the Airport Authority is already in place. I beleive to this point in time the Federal Government has already written off more that $4 Million for the Airport Authority.

(2) I understand that Hill said the money was available subject to some statutory limitations. I suspect this has something to do with the structure of the Airport Authority, and the fact that they are restricted in how they can spend money.

(3) By giving $11 Million to the Prince George Airport Authority, does this leave the Government in a position where they would have to do something similiar for other Authoritys?

(4) What was the final analysis of the business plan put forward by the Airport Authority. Has anyone seen this report, or do they know what it entails?

(5) The fact that this Airport is owned by the Federal Government would make one wonder why a Provincial Government would invest $11 Million into it. Who knows?

(6) The only response that I have seen from any Major Carrier to date, is the article in the Citizen dated Dec. 13/05 quoting Karen Cooper, a spokesperson for Fed Exs Canadian operations. **FedEx has no interest in setting up a centre in Prince George even if the runway was extended. From where we are now for logistics and capacity, FedEx goes via Anchorage, there is no intention of switching. It seems a bit of a stretch for us**

(7)I dont belevie that the Major Carriers what to split their operations by setting up in Prince George, however there may be other opportunities that we are not aware of.

In the final analysis, if the Airport Authority wants the people of Prince George to support them in this endeavour, then I suggest that they come up with some more specific information on how this expansion will be a benefit to Prince George. It isnt good enough to talk in generalities, when your planning on spending $33 Million of taxpayers dollars

(8) Wheres the **Beef**

Good comments, Ben.
In my humble opinion, big yankee outfits like fedex are not going to pull operations out of Alaska or any other state unless they stand to save a major amount of money by doing so. That alone should not dissuade us from proceeding with an expansion "If you build it, they will come"
metalman.

A couple of things here. First, airports in Canada are no longer owned by the Federal Government. They have been transfered over to local ownerships such as Airport Authorities and cities. As for no cargo companies wanting to relocate to PG, there are numerous cargo companies in the world. Maybe Fedex or UPS does not want to move, but if the airport chases down the smaller guys such as (Cargolux, Evergreen and DHL) who are more likely to move and that will get the 3-4 flights per day that they are expecting.

Palopu, you'll just have to try to live with the fact that the airport authority are a bunch of losers who don't know what they are talking about. Obviously you have superior knowledge, and obviously they haven't done their homework and they are all incompetent and foolish, therefore, get used to the fact that you won't be happy with this expansion and move on to your next issue, which I'm sure you'll also have some doubts about.

I would like this project completed at least a year prior to the 2010 Olympics.

Why? Because I think it world provide the perfect platform to have large passenger charter jets flying into PG from Europe, Asia, and the rest of North America for a cheep flight to start RV rental circle tours based from PG.

I would like to see Eco-tourism 2010 circle tours that start in PG go west to the coast, down the inside passage to the Olympics, and then back through the interior to PG. Alternate circle tours in later years could include the Jasper, Banff, BC interior routes that Calgary has the market cornered in, as well as local northern circle tours such as the Alaska highway and highway 37 circle tour opening up the Northern Rockies to the world and putting Jasper Banff to shame.

People are curious about this part of the world, and I think this airport expansion would be an enabler of the big time tour operators for this area changing not only local economics, but also the worlds perception of this region as a whole.

Air cargo would be neat and provide jobs as well I'm sure, also it would be nice to have capability to land our new Air Force disaster rapid response planes in this region, but I don't think any one single use for this runway on its own should be the basis for this airport expansion.

Time Will Tell

PS if we miss 2010 then we have been put down again in favour of Olympic monopolists in the MLA rich Lower Mainland.

Way to go Chadermando !! What a pleasure to read something positive about the amazing opportunities the north has to offer !!
The Alaska circle tour has been a hit for decades with countless Americans, as well as Europeans and Asians, and flying in to Prince George, renting an RV, and heading out on an "adventure" tour, either singly, or in guided groups like they do on the Copper Canyon tours in Mexico, could become a huge, huge, huge, hit for Prince George !! As the word gets out, you can bet there'll be more and more coming every year. There is IMMENSE interest in the BC north all over the world!! Let's give them a chance to come see for themselves!

As for the Olympic tour --- right on again !! Finally ---- some comments that can help wake us up to what's been right under our noses all along !!

I'm so sick of hearing whiners like palopu put this great city and its potential down I could just puke !!

Airport Authority --- get the hell off your duffs and get on with the job you're being paid to do !! There are a LOT of people here wondering what the hell you're doing up there!! A LOT of people !!

Thirty million bucks spent right here in good 'ol Prince George, put into the pockets of hard working Prince Georgians, is some tax money finally well spent in my opinion ! I for one would feel a lot better about the thousands of dollars I put into government coffers every year in taxes !!

Bronco. Most Airports in Canada are owned by Transport Canada, and operated by either Airport Authoritys, or by Cities, on a lease basis.

Chandermando. Why do we have to wait for an Airport Runway expansion to get these tourist ideas off the Ground. We already have 3 Runways at the P G Airport, however the statistics do not stack up very well against other Citys. ie;

Victoria Airport; Three (3) Runways.
1-7000 ft 1-5026 ft 1-5003 ft.
Aircraft movements 145,140
Passengers 1,390,128

Kelowna Airport: One (1) Runway
7,300 ft.
Aircraft Movements 75,387
Passengers 1,226,442.
Kelowna's single runway operates air service to Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, Toronto, and Internationally to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Las Cabos, and Honolulu.

Prince George Airport: Three (3) Runways
1-7402 ft 1-5624 ft 1-3770 ft.
Aircraft Movements 40,743
Passengers 394,407.

You can see from the foregoing that Kelowna with a single, shorter, runway handles 3 times as many passenger than Prince George, so I guess we could say, that insofar as tourist business goes, we have sufficient runways to at least handle the same type of business that Kelowna does. The same thing applies to the Victoria Airport.

Its not the size of the runway that is stopping people from flying into Prince George, so it must be some other reason.

Perhaps we will have to convince more people than palomino that this is a great City and that they should come here. At the present they are not utilizing our facilities to the maximum even though we have been open for business for years.

The Airport expansion may (may) at some point get some wide body cargo jets to land and refuel, and may (may) get some distribution business, thats to be determined, however whats keeping the tourists away????? They could land here to-morrow and rent an RV and head for Alaska. Mind you they would miss seeing the rest of the United States, and Canada, by flying here, but "Heh" they would see Prince George, and the villages between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

If you want to see where the action is try this on for size.

Vancouver Airport. Four (4) Runways
1-9,940ft 1-11,500ft 1-7,300ft 1-3,500ft
Aircraft Movements 322,307
Passengers 16,929,233

Calgary Airport. Three (3) Runways
1-6,200ft 1-8000ft 1-12,675ft
Aircraft Movements 242,658
Passengers 11,279,080

Just my opinion, but I think the City has a LONG ways to go before it can really cash in on tourism. Sure there will always be the spinoffs from people travelling through PG, however, even the most die hard PG resident cannot ignore the fact that the first impression left by our City can often be questionable.

The buildings in the downtown core are generally in dissrepair, the primary retail services are generally outside of the downtown core, the best hotels in town are outside (or soon to be outside) of the downtown core and none of the main attractions in the City are within reasonable walking distance of each other (we can thank our City planning for that) and they too are outside of the downtown core. That's not to mention the social problems that we have to deal with downtown and the simply horrific air quality that oftentimes plagues the City and causes visitors to leave earlier than planned because of medical issues . . . don't laugh . . . I've personally seen that on a couple of occasions.

I do believe that PG and the surrounding area has amazing POTENTIAL, however, there are some very serious issues that face the City that nobody seems to REALLY want to tackle. Until those are attended to, the POTENTIAL of this City will never be realized IMHO.

"none of the main attractions in the City are within reasonable walking distance of each other (we can thank our City planning for that)"

Actually, we can thank our City Council for that .. remember, we are open for business ..... while other communities are open for business but not at any cost ... there is a considerable difference ....

Why have the best planners of the past left his place for greener pastures? They get frustrated with the peopel who make the final decisions. The OCP says one thing, Council keeps saying another thing.

So, I blame the Council and City Manager for having the gun shy planning department we have. The buck stops there.

Well, actually it doesn't. The buck stops at our feet. The voters vote the Council inot power. With one exception, we got the same olde same olde the last time around.

NMG ... other than that, I think your post is bang on!!!!!!!!!

The question is, how many people agree with that in this community? I think most people really do not care. They cocoon in their homes, their shops, their work places, and simply do not care how the City as a whole fares.

The simply turn away in denial and talk about the great people in this community. That is why they say they are here, the great people.

In our experience, visitors who have stayed here for longer periods tend to agree. But shorter term visitors are not here for that.

It is a vicious circle. In times of some expansion, we do not have the time to plan properly or maintain facilities properly due to being otherwise busy. In times of regression we do not have the money to afford the time to plan properly of maintain facilities properly. So, things deteriorate and plans are simple quick yeses just so that we do not turn the little interest there may be away.

Kelowna is currently in the process of expanding their runway to 8,900 feet so to attract flights from Europe. They got most of the money from the city and the rest from the government...with very few questions and no delays.

Palopu the Kelowna airport serves a lot greater population base than PG. It serves an area from Salmon Arm south to the US Canada border. Yes there are other airports in that area but Kelowna is the main one so can't really be compared to PG.

I hear you owl. I certainly didn't mean to suggest that it was the actual City Planners who were at fault. My observation was more general in nature. I agree with what you have said.

Seamutt. I was comparing the length of the Runways, you will note that the one runway in Kelowna is shorter than the present runway in Prince George. My point is that we have sufficient runways to handle a large amount of tourists by air, but we are not getting them.

The passenger numbers for each Airport was shown as a matter of interest.

"My point is that we have sufficient runways to handle a large amount of tourists by air, but we are not getting them."

Isn't the purpose of the PG runway extension primarily to facilitate the arrival and departure of large cargo planes, with overseas passenger planes being only a secondary benefit?

Comparing this airport initiative in PG with airport tourism numbers in Kelowna (for instance) doesn't make much sense, if any.

I agree dipolmat that was my point. We already have sufficient capacity at the Airport to handle tourist business, we just are not getting any.

The expansion was and is as far as I know all about Wide Body Cargo Flights refueling to and from Asia. With the possibility down the road of some sort of distribution business.

Tourism may or may not be a factor. In any event if the tourist wanted to come, we have the runways in place to accomodate them now.

I think the magic word here is *overseas* as for instance a German airline has indicated considerable interest in flying into Prince George (directly, non-stop) once the longer runway is complete.

They specialize in charter flights which presently bring RV tourists to Vancouver, where they rent motorhomes to drive north, through PG and on to the Yukon and Alaska.

The attraction would be to fly them here, from where they would start their driving adventure, cutting out the distance from Vancouver to here and the return leg.

Quite a saving in time and driving expenses.

Their RV rental business would open an office here at the airport and have the vehicles onsite as well.