May 21, 2008
GP and Edmonton airports keep growing

TAMAS VIRAG Herald-Tribune staff

Though the dust from the last phase of construction has barely settled at the Grande Prairie Regional Airport, city council gave the go-ahead Tuesday to a second expansion, in the wake of a much faster than expected increase of passengers using the facility.

This phase is going to help us in handling the amount of traffic that we see going through there, said Ald. Bill Given.

We’ve already hit our 2016 numbers of traffic going through the airport. That triggered this next expansion?

He said the approximately $8-million expansion will add extra length to the airport terminal and will go mostly unnoticed while under construction.

He added the 30 per cent jump in the number of passengers going through the airport in 2007 has levelled to a more sustainable three per cent increase so far this year, meaning the upcoming expansion should be the last one for a while.

It’s really going to ease the congestion for people as they’re going into the hold room, waiting for a flight or when they’re getting off the plane and retrieving their baggage, Given said of the 300,000 or so passengers who go through the airport each year.

EDMONTON SPENDING $1.1B

Travellers flying into Edmonton’s International Airport should encounter few problems as the major hub begins more than $1 billion in expansion projects.

The Edmonton Airports Authority, which runs the airport, announced earlier this month it will start work on $1.1 billion in renovations and expansions to keep up with heavy growth. Under previous growth projections, the authority planned on having 5.5 million passengers a year by 2015  last year roughly 6.1 million passed through the International.

We’ve become Canada’s fastest growing major airport, said the authority’s director of communications Traci Bednard.

But despite the massive price tag for the expansion, the authority will not be increasing the airports improvement fee of $15, charged to all passengers.

Bednard said traffic from the north into Edmonton continues to grow and servicing northern Alberta and beyond remains a priority.

The expansion will add 13 gates creating 30 from the current 17. Parking and manoeuvring space for the airplanes is also being added as well as vehicle parking for travellers. The airport will do its best to limit passenger disruptions but its inevitable some renovations will impact flyers.

Whenever you build around an existing airport there will be challenges with travellers, said Bednard. Our goal is to be seamless.

In the past year, the authority has added several direct flight from Edmonton including daily service to London, England and a new direct flight to Mexico City.

Bednard said expanding the airport will make the area even more attractive to airlines, which helps to create more direct flights in the future. The authority is not worried that rising fuel prices will hurt passenger levels, she said.

When all the expansion work is done in 2012, the International will be capable of hosting nine million passengers a year.

 With files from Darrell Winwood

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