Talks on Lethbridge Airport upgrades continue

Lethbridge News Now caught up with Kelly following the event to talk about plans for YQL.

“In the presentation (I) did today (Friday), there’s three components to it,” he said.

“One being air services, that’s what the airlines bring to us, so we’ve been working diligently with them to see what the opportunities are for them to increase passengers, to see if there’s any other routes available and take a look at the group of ultra-low cost carriers to see if there’s an opportunity (for service) in Lethbridge.”

Kelly said the second component is where investments from the City and grants from higher levels of government will come into play – and that’s what services are offered at the airport.

“We know that in the secure hold there’s no bathrooms, there’s no water to be provided so we’ve come up with a plan of what the expansion would look like for the airport terminal building itself,” he said.

Kelly noted those upgrades would come out to around $15 million.

“We are actively after grants with the other levels of government to help us out with that investment and we will pound on their door to get those monies,” he said.

“The other components with some of the grants that we’re chasing are improvements with the electrical system, the runway lighting and some upgrades of taxiway apron and runways themselves.”

He said the third point they’re focusing on is the business/land development.

“With the transfer of land, there’s 1400 acres that came with that and we believe about 800 of that can be developed. So, we will be looking at how we can turn that into another employment centre,” he said.

“It’s really a distribution hub. We’ll work with the trucking industry, air industry and the rail, which is just a few kilometres away … to see what opportunities that we can bring forward for the future success.”

Kelly said the electrical upgrades would come out to about $6-million, while the work on the apron, taxiway and runway would also be about $6 million.

Kelly said there are also plans to upgrade the overflow parking space at the airport.

“That’s becoming a pressure with more passengers using our facility.”

Around $500,000 would go towards a storage building and $350,000 for a front-end loader.

There is no concrete date on when these upgrades would start up as the wait for funding continues.

by Justin Goulet (@JustinGoulet21)

Talks on Lethbridge Airport upgrades continue

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