Pressure Mounts on City Centre Airport

Pressure Mounts on City Airport
Mark Norris urges keeping once-thriving airport busy as hub for north

The Edmonton Journal, Canada

Tuesday, November 11, 2003


EDMONTON - Edmonton's airport authority must make an "unequivocal
commitment" to once again make the City Centre Airport a vital hub for
northern Alberta, says the province's economic development minister.

Mark Norris said the current uncertainty over the airport's future is
worrisome because it is a "huge economic driver" for Edmonton and northern
Alberta. It should be kept open, he said, for medical flights, private
planes, charters and some scheduled flights.

Norris said his department is willing to bankroll a study to calculate the
airport's economic value to the region. While the airport authority and
the city are both studying the airport's viability, Norris said he may
push ahead independently with a provincially funded study.

"I really do think that airport is a hidden jewel for economic development
in Edmonton and northern Alberta, and it behooves all levels of government
to do all we can to keep it thriving," said Norris, MLA for
Edmonton-McClung.

"It may be time for us to step to the plate as a government and say we
think the issue needs to be dealt with and this is one way to do it."

His comments came just days after the long-running debate about the
airport's future flared up once again.

The town of Peace River sent a resolution to Edmonton last week demanding
the city stop calling itself the "Gateway to the North."

The city does not deserve the title if it allows further restrictions to
air service at the city-owned airport near downtown, Peace River's town
council said.

That includes the airport authority's plan to scale back service by
banning 19-seat aircraft from making scheduled landings there beginning in
January.

Edmonton Mayor Bill Smith wrote a letter to Peace River council on Friday
saying the city takes its role as "Gateway to the North" seriously.

In the letter, he said the city can't veto decisions about limiting
scheduled service under the terms of its 56-year lease with Edmonton
Regional Airports Authority to operate the airport.

Smith called the town's resolution disappointing. He also apologized in
the letter to Peace River Mayor Lorne Mann for not responding to two
earlier invitations to discuss the town's concerns.

"Clearly, it is now time for Edmonton to listen more closely to Peace
River," Smith wrote.

Peace River's town council planned to discuss Smith's response at its
meeting Monday night.

"I don't think there was anything in there that gave us a high degree of
confidence that they're really taking the issue seriously," Kelly Bunn,
the town's chief administrative officer, said of Smith's letter.

Norris's proposal to study the airport's economic impact won high praise
from Bunn. It was also well-received in some Edmonton City Hall offices.
Coun. Ron Hayter, an outspoken advocate of the City Centre Airport,
welcomed Norris's message.

"I'm just very gratified the minister has spoken," Hayter said. "What he
says is going to be taken with a great deal of import because he is the
minister responsible for economic development and he knows that airport is
extremely crucial to business with the North."

But another councillor argued Norris's concern about the airport is
misguided.

Coun. Michael Phair said the minister and others concerned about the
scaling back of air services should remember that 77 per cent of
Edmontonians who voted in a 1995 referendum said they wanted scheduled air
travel moved from the City Centre Airport to the Edmonton International
Airport near Leduc.

"That is still where our best investment is, at the international
airport," Phair said. "That's what needs to be viable. Any moving away
from that only undermines the viability of Edmonton Airports and, I think,
is very detrimental to the general economy of the city and the region."

Edmonton Airports spokeswoman Traci Bednard said only five per cent of
northern travellers currently fly through the City Centre Airport. The
rest go through the international airport.

The airport authority has taken several steps to improve northern air
service since it began consolidating scheduled flights, she said,
including locating the regional airlines check-in counters in the centre
of the airport.

The authority is committed to keeping the City Centre Airport open to
private planes, small charters and air ambulances, she said.

It's important to clearly define the roles of each airport, Bednard said,
to ensure they don't compete for travellers, infrastructure or
investments.


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