$700,000 approved for Lethbridge Airport terminal upgrades and design

Jun 24, 2019 | 5:05 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The City of Lethbridge is going forward with its plans to upgrade the airport.

The announcement comes on the heels of the city taking over ownership of the airport from Lethbridge County, which is effective July 1st, 2019.

Renovations will include upgrading the current washrooms to be accessible, increasing the size of the secure hold room, modernizing furnishings, upgrading parking, and enhancing water services.

Mayor Chris Spearman says this is a great opportunity to show passengers, airline carriers, and prospective business owners that the City of Lethbridge is serious about improving its 40-year-old airport.

“We’ve seen airport passenger growth up by 85% and we want to make sure that that continues to grow so that we can have enhanced air services from the City of Lethbridge,” says Spearman. “More flights, more destinations, maybe restore, one day, the direct flight to Edmonton, and see what services we can support.”

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This is, however, merely a part of the larger picture.

The City of Lethbridge has identified more than $35-million in total capital upgrades that need to be made at the airport going forward.

Part of the $700,000 will include work to come up with a functional and detailed design of all the improvements and expansions the city wants to make in the long term.

Spearman hopes to have the design completed in the next three-to-six months. From there, the local government will work with its provincial and federal counterparts to look into how they can collaborate on funding it.

As for the $700,000, that will be paid for by the Pay-As-You-Go Community Fund, which the City of Lethbridge says has approximately $1-million set aside for a variety of projects.

by David Opinko