noticed this morning that work has started at the Costco site, quite a bit of activity going on there this morning.
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Lots of projects planned for airport
Published Tuesday June 22nd, 2010
D1
By STEPHEN LLEWELLYN
[email protected]
A second storey for the Fredericton International Airport terminal, a rehabilitated runway and new flights to Ontario, New England and the Caribbean are all projects taxiing across David Innes' desk.
"With the increase in traffic that we've had we've got to really do something to expand the size of our terminal," said Innes, president and CEO of the Fredericton International Airport Authority Inc., on Monday.
"We've got to go up and out I think. We have to put a second floor on the terminal area and build it out onto the airfield a little bit."
The airport has applied to the federal Atlantic Gateway program for $30 million which includes $20 million for the terminal expansion.
"We have had a 30 per cent increase in passenger traffic between 2003 and 2009," said Innes.
"This summer we have 92 outbound flights per week and we have 3,650 outbound seats per day. Everything we have ever done in terms of building facilities was to give us capability to do more work."
The airport did a terminal renovation a few years ago but didn't increase the footprint of the building.
"What we extended was the departure lounge," said Innes. "We still have the same number of square feet that we had in 2001.
"Quite frankly we think the traffic can grow here pretty substantially over the next few years."
Innes knows that people love to watch airplanes take off and land and right now that is hard to do at the Fredericton airport.
Currently, there is only one small window facing the runway by the passenger arrival door.
It opens itself up to that kind of (viewing area) possibility," he said, about the proposed expansion.
"We are really tight for space right now as anybody knows."
The other $10 million in the Gateway application would go to rebuild the airport's older runway 15/33 which still has the original wiring and drainage dating back 50 years.
The runway is 1,800 metres or 6,000 feet long.
"It is like building a highway, a long, straight and very wide one," said Innes. "We really have to tear it apart and put it back together again."
He said the airport application is the only Gateway project from the Fredericton area.
"It has been endorsed by the New Brunswick Gateway Council," said Innes. "We would hope when the Gateway projects spool up again that the Fredericton Airport terminal would be part of that funding package."
He said the timing for a big airport project is perfect as the North American economy emerges from the deep recession of the last couple of years.
"Our traffic last month (in May) was nine per cent more than it was in the same month last year," said Innes. "Our traffic is 1.5 per cent over last year cumulative. We are starting to see a rebound."
He said he recently attended a major conference for airlines and airports in San Diego, California and the level of optimism across North America is very good.
"The level of optimism is there like it hasn't been in the past," said Innes. "It is better than it has ever been since I have been in the airport business and that is 2001."
Last week the airport announced a new daily Air Canada Jazz flight to Toronto. Innes said the airport is actively looking for new flights and new airlines.
"We are talking to all (three) Canadian carriers," he said.
Air Canada has a new team in Montreal that is looking in a new direction which would be better for Fredericton, said Innes.
"They are being aggressive in the marketplace and that is a good thing," he said.
Innes said there is also a new executive team at Westjet and Porter Airlines is also looking at expanding.
"Eastern Canada has become a place of interest for all Canadian carriers," he said. "We are talking to U.S. carriers as well."
The airport's wish list includes a business class flight to Ontario, service east to St. John's, Newfoundland and the return of a flight to New England.
Innes said he expects one of those to happen in the next year. "We are working on all of the possibilities and I would hope at least one of them would come to pass," he said.
He declined to hint which one, saying any announcement would come from the airline rather than the airport.
Caribbean winter charter flights from Fredericton have been one of the airports success stories in recent years.
"This year we had three: two to Cuba and one to the Dominican Republic," said Innes.
"We look to increase that by one more next year."
The new destination in the Caribbean is up to the airlines and charter operators, said Innes.
"They are the leaders on that issue," he said. "We just provide them a pretty good market place."
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Motty: Work on aerospace park is expected to start this year
Published Tuesday June 22nd, 2010
D1
By STEPHEN LLEWELLYN
[email protected]
Work is expected to start on the new 500-acre aerospace park at the Fredericton International Airport as soon as this year, says Enterprise Fredericton CEO Doug Motty.
"I would think probably we should see some significant activity there within the next six to eight months for sure," he said Monday.
"We do have a couple of potential tenants for the park now which is what we didn't have a year or so ago. They are very patient. They are just waiting for us to start construction."
The names of those companies are still confidential but they have committed to the park both on the air service side as well as the road side, said Motty.
There has been talk about an aerospace park at the Fredericton International Airport for at least five years.
The planned site for the aerospace park is at the end of the main runway on the CFB Gagetown side of the airport.
"We are sort of at the point now of just trying to put together the funding model which will allow us to build the infrastructure," said Motty.
That includes roads, access ramps to the runways and water and sewer lines, he said.
The projected cost is several million dollars and the park is expecting that money to come from various government programs, said Motty.
"We've put the tenants before the infrastructure," he said. "Some groups have done it the other way around."
He said the park can't tell someone that space will be available in two or three months. "That is just not realistic right now," he said.
The aerospace park is a partnership between Enterprise Fredericton and Fredericton International Airport Authority Inc. and authority president and CEO David Innes said Monday the aerospace park is definitely not on the back burner.
"We think the opportunities are even more than they were here a year ago," he said. "We are looking forward to the development of it."
Innes said the airport authority formed a company with Enterprise Fredericton called ADP Park Inc. and has a board of directors that held their first meeting in May.
"It is going slower than we would like but it is going in the right direction," he said.
"Developing an industrial park is a little bit beyond our means so we have to work fairly carefully with our federal and provincial partners and see if we can get that going."
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