The other week, the federal government announced a $6.4 million upgrade to the Penticton airport terminal.
This is on top of $7.5 million spent on repaving the runway and expanding the holding area. The airport terminal is over 50 years old and the latest changes will allow for increased traffic and improved safety, security and an enhanced passenger experience.
Some of the conversations around town about the airport upgrades circled around improvements to landing systems for low level cloud or fog conditions. I’ve been told by industry experts that improving landing infrastructure isn’t so much a matter of the technology on the ground, but the technology airlines have in their planes. WestJet Encore uses a new Q400 plane with advanced avionics that allows for GPS landing systems and other technologies that typically result in more landings in difficult scenarios such as low cloud or fog. Air Canada Express uses older and smaller Dash 8 planes which do not have the same modern technology.
Another benefit of the project is improving the configuration of the terminal and expanding ticketing, security, baggage and holding areas. This will allow for more flights to happen within a shorter window of each other and capacity for the airport to have larger planes such as the Q400 to serve our area. The Q400 planes hold 78 passengers compared to 48 for the Dash 8 planes.
I fly out of Penticton airport probably six to eight times a year and my observations, as well as those anecdotally reported to me, is that most flights have very strong passenger counts. Earlier this spring, WestJet announced an additional three flights a week from Calgary to enhance their daily service. We are optimistic that Air Canada will consider upgrading some of their routes to Penticton with a Q400 plane to not only bring more people to our region but also increase their probability of landing during the winter season.
Our airport is one of a small handful of federally owned facilities and while divestiture was discussed with the City of Penticton, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and the Penticton Indian Band three years ago, there has been no further follow up or interest. There are benefits to the federal government running the airport as airports require expensive capital improvements (I just referenced $14 million in upgrades). The downside is the bureaucracy involved to institute any changes or improvements. As an example, I saw drawings for the terminal improvements closer to three years ago. To change parking fees — which are extremely low — would take a year to get through federal legislation. The airport loses money but a simple and modest increase to parking revenues would significantly improve the situation.
The city has tried numerous times to get permission to use six feet along the highway to connect the KVR trail to the channel to provide a safe and protected passage way for cyclists and pedestrians. We’ve always been hit with rigid federal rules and inflexibility. Having said that, the airport did bend protocol and allowed us to film a flash mob video not just in the building but on the tarmac to lobby WestJet. This community effort helped to separate our submission from other communities. Without WestJet coming to Penticton, there would not have been the justification to invest in infrastructure improvements.
Our airport is the gateway to the South Okanagan and Similkameen which is over 80,000 people but it also attracts people from West Kelowna and the Kootenays. It is a crucial transportation portal for our residents, tourists and business community. We are fortunate and thankful to have landed these improvements and the investment by the federal government.
Andrew Jakubeit is the Mayor of Penticton and provides the Western Newswith a column twice a month. Contact him via email Andrew.Jakubeit@penticton.ca. Follow him on Twitter @AndrewJakubeit