The City of Castlegar has formalized an agreement with Pacific Coastal Airlines that enables the airline to utilize the West Kootenay Regional Airport in the event that they can not access their usual base at the Trail Regional Airport due to inclement weather.
On July 15, Airport Manager Maciej Habrych told city council that since 2023, this scenario has played out 18 times.
Along with laying out operating rules, expectations and a fee schedule, the agreement gives Pacific Coastal a small area to store necessary equipment.
The airline will pay an annual fee of $500 plus additional fees as per WKRA's fee schedule for things like landings, takeoffs, airplane parking and passenger fees whenever they use the airport.
Work on the apron expansion project at WKRA continues and Habrych reported that favourable weather is helping to move the project along at a good pace.
The improvements will enlarge the existing footprint of the apron to safely accommodate multiple Q400-sized planes at a time. This will prevent flight delays and increase efficiency and capacity for simultaneous operations, including when the Southeast Fire Centre has active aviation operations underway.
Habrych also reported that June was a busy month at the airport with no flight cancellations and planes filled to 76 per cent of capacity.
Castlegar City Council approved several major purchases for WKRA at their July 15 meeting.
Two half-ton 4x4 pickup trucks have been purchased from AM Ford for $125,899.
WKRA needs two trucks to conduct specialized roles related to regulatory compliance.These trucks are used for things like wildlife patrols and abatement and runway friction measurements.
The trucks will be financed over five years with repayments coming from the city’s Airport Reserve Fund.
The city is also purchasing new fencing for WKRA. The $81,899 contract is going to Summit Fence, a local contractor.
Security fencing is a requirement of Transport Canada and must be installed around airports to control the movement of animals, people, and debris onto airside operations.
The project will also change the fencing alignment as the current boundary includes land that is now part of the Orchard Avenue Phase Two project so the fence must be re-aligned to exclude that area.
