This AGM was really long. Formal portion of the AGM was 45 minutes long and Q&A was just as long. Especially the last guy up at the mike, holy smokes he asked three questions about all kinds of stuff, cutting into everyone's lunch hour. The last guy was me.
Interestingly enough, it was not the SW Calgary noise crazies that made a seen but rather the NE residents of Marlborough area that were kicking up a fight.
John Schmal (former city alderman) lead the charge for the airport noise hating crowd. It became apparent through listening to Schmal's rant (at times it was getting into Larry Heather territory and maybe approaching an Oscar Fech incoherent mess) that what Marlborough residents want is for departures off 17R to converge with 17L, so that departing aircraft are over Deerfoot and Mayland Heights and away from Marlborough. From looking at a map, it is apparent that whether its 0, 5, 10, or 15 degree turn; the community will have aircraft flying overhead.
The second presenter on Marlborough noise issues did have one good point, the 1979 NEF contour and AVPA (Airport Vicinity Protection Area) did not account for the Navcan required 15 degree turn instead the study and protection area assumed a no turn scenario.
Overall I was okay with Rick Erickson's speech, but one thing I have noticed is the Erickson goes to everything Calgary Airport related and is always hosted by Calgary airport. Erickson and Atkinson have known each other for over 25 years and Atkinson is probably responsible for a material amount of revenue for Erickson's firm.
The final two presenters (including me) were primarily focused what will happen to the current terminal building. This is relevant because the airport authority is exclusively focused on presenting the new international terminal and not mentioning the domestic terminal refurbishment.
As a user of Calgary airport it is comforting to know that the CAA has financial capacity to continue with refurbishment. As I stated at the meeting, the standard operating procedure for airports is to complete the major eapansion and then spend the net 5-10 years paying down the debt. This is similar to over extending oneself on home purchase and then not having enough cash to replace the car while simultaneously hoping the furnace and kitchen appliances don't require replacement.
I am disappointed there will not be a consolidation of domestic pre-board screening into the US pre-clearance area. As a traveller who uses mobile checkin and does not have checked bags; central security would have provided me with ability to avoid the checkin hall area entirely. Additionally, central security would have guaranteed Nexus lanes would be open longer and have exclusive status (meaning there would be no regular passenger traffic through the Nexus lane). However I understand the Airport's viewpoint, it is not preferable to require all pax to checkin at the ends of the terminal building only to walk to the central area for security screening and then back to the ends of the terminal in order to board their flight.
On the subject of trials for new international terminal, the airport will be conducting two types of trials, small focus group trials and large public oriented trials. Stay tuned to the airport website for the large public trials which will likely be just before opening and are more focused on measuring passenger throughput.
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