August 9, 2007
Flying high

A slowing oil patch is having no impact on Grande Prairies Regional Airport as the facility is enjoying the busiest summer in its history and will likely finish the year with a new record for passenger levels.

Figures from halfway through the year show the airport is experiencing a 20 per cent growth compared to 2006, after a 30 per cent increase from 2005. Add it up and the airport has had a 50 per cent growth rate in 18 months, an astonishing figure that makes it one of the fastest growing airports in Canada, on a percentage basis.

Airport manager Brian Grant said Wednesday that from January to the end of June, there have been 176,000 people arrive and depart through the airport, compared to 146,500 for the same period in 2006. July figures were not yet available.

Were certainly having continued growth, there’s no slowdown here said Grant.

Unlike many larger airports, the summer is traditionally a slower time at the airport as industrial travel makes the winter a busy season and some people who might drive to Edmonton fly instead of braving icy highways. But so far this year, traffic levels haven’t dipped and Grant said the airport is on track to finish 2007 with roughly 400,000 people moving through the airport, compared to 315,000 in 2006.

The surge isn’t all welcome news, however, as the airport is scrambling to match demand. Parking at the facility is currently being doubled, an earlier expansion of the terminal was finished earlier this year and a second expansion could start as early as this winter.

Grant said the airport will be spending as much as $10 million in the next 18 months, straining its resources and he said it’s likely that some fees charged to both passengers and airlines will go up in January 2008 to help pay for the expansions.

In order to keep up with that growth ... were doubling the size of the parking lot and it wasn’t scheduled to be done until 2014. Things are expensive ... a lot of our plans are in a tailspin.

So far the large growth also hasn’t translated into increased service levels from many airlines.

Northwestern Air, a small company from Fort Smith, N.W.T. announced a new route from Red Deer to Grande Prairie and High Level, but none of the major airlines have added more routes or flights to this area.

Grant said the increased traffic has pushed most plane-loads up and most flights are roughly 90 per cent sold when they leave the city. It’s at the level where more destinations might be justified, but with growth in many areas including Edmonton and Calgary Air Canada and WestJet simply don’t have enough planes to go around, said Grant.

We’re one of many areas that’s growing.

Grant said he is trying to lure a direct flight to Vancouver for Grande Prairie, but many airlines prefer to route through Edmonton or Calgary to pick up extra traffic there before going on to Vancouver.

Other possible future routes could be a seasonal summer service direct to Toronto, along with possible winter-season service to vacation hotspots such as Mexico.

One route that won’t be filled likely until the fall is the route once held by Peace Air. The Peace River airline collapsed in May after more than 40 years in business. It offered flights into Edmonton’s City Centre airport, but traffic levels were low and the route is seen as a niche market. The Edmonton Airport Authority has a policy of not allowing flights with more than nine people into the City Centre Airport. Communications director Traci Bednard said the authority issued a request for proposals earlier this summer to fill Peace Airs routes into Edmonton.

At stake are routes from Peace River, High Level and Grande Prairie into the City Centre Airport.

That (access) has not been awarded but were in the final stages, said Bednard, who would not comment on how many airlines bid for the service.

Article ID# 2374126