By Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

Ownership of Lethbridge Airport officially transferred to City of Lethbridge

Jul 19, 2018 | 2:22 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Calling it “an historic day,” members of both City and County councils voted unanimously Thursday, July 19, to officially transfer ownership of the Lethbridge Airport to the City, and to have the County continue operating it on an interim basis for the next 18 months.

“We hope this is going to be an economic development catalyst for the region,” says Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman. “We have to have a viable airport. And the early signs are great.”

Lethbridge County Deputy Reeve Ken Benson says he’s relieved the transfer process is now over, and he looks forward to the future.

“It’s going to be a lot better… this will leave the County free to work on our infrastructure and all of that. We’ll be running it for 18 months, but hopefully the new governance model [the City of Lethbridge] approve will be in place by then. But it’s going to be a real, huge benefit.”

Spearman says both WestJet and Air Canada are often operating at a 95 per cent occupancy on their planes, and now the airport terminal capacity and amenities need to be improved. That, he says, starts with applications to the Federal and Provincial governments for funding.

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“We’ll be submitting [funding] applications before Aug. 1. There will be an evaluation jointly by the Provincial and Federal Governments. So, the Federal Government allocates infrastructure dollars to the Province of Alberta, and together they work out what the priorities are. But we have to be on the list. The agreement today, allowed us to apply for those grants, that we can compete with other Alberta cities for infrastructure funds that will benefit the whole region of southwestern Alberta.”

If funding is approved, Spearman says there are a host of improvements the city is hoping to move forward with.

“The airport is 40 years old, the actual structure. And it’s quite dated compared to other airports. So, we have to make sure that the waiting areas are enhanced, that the washroom services are better- that they’re available after you go through security, those are the types of things we’re going to be looking at.”

Creating a more pleasant visitor experience with additional drop-off or pick-up areas are also on the list, as is making food services available for those waiting for their flights or for those coming in.

The longer-term vision for the airport will be to figure out a strategy for the development of the land next to the air terminal building to take advantage of the close proximity to the airport, the city and highway transportation routes.

The County took ownership of the airport in 1997 after Transport Canada gave up ownership of regional and local airports to regional and community interests.

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