Leader Post article:
Regina Airport Authority planning for more expansion in next decades
Regina Airport Authority is providing a glimpse at the airport of the future at an open house on Thursday evening.
Ashley Martin, Regina Leader-Post
Published on: September 13, 2017 | Last Updated: September 13, 2017 5:36 PM CST
Ken Waschuk, chairman and acting CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, stands near a baggage carousel. MICHAEL BELL / REGINA LEADER-POST
Regina Airport Authority is providing a glimpse at the airport of the future at an open house on Thursday evening.
Building on the growth of the past decade, plans include enlarging the terminal building to the northwest, which will create space for more baggage carousels, retail stores and restaurants.
“It’s a question of when we’re going to pull this trigger, and that depends on the economy, it depends on passenger numbers … probably within the next three years,” said Ken Waschuk, chairman and acting CEO for the Regina Airport Authority.
This is all part of the 2037 master plan for the airport.
Each decade, the RAA is required to revise its 20-year master plan for submission to Transport Canada.
Waschuk said that although there are now six places to pick up food, he’d like to see a sit-down restaurant.
“It would be nice to have more retail as well. … It’s nice to have that atmosphere, where you can shop instead of sitting in a plastic chair looking out the window.”
In the past decade, the RAA has added “a lot of things the customer might not see but is there to support their needs,” said Waschuk, “all kinds of things that go on behind the scenes to make an airport function properly.”
That includes the instrument landing system, baggage handling system, ground servicing, storage and maintenance.
Waschuk said the Regina airport could see 2.8-per-cent more passengers in the next 20 years, according to a medium-growth-rate projection.
“Our screening area is too small; we don’t have adequate unloading or loading. The sheer numbers start to dictate the fact that you have to grow,” said Waschuk.
He said another baggage carousel is needed, as there is congestion during times of multiple flight arrivals, especially in the winter charter-flight season.
Waschuk said the RAA has not yet assessed the capital costs of such growth, but it won’t be cheap.
Running an airport is an expensive business. He said the RAA annually pays more than $1 million in rent to the federal government and $1 million to the city in taxes.
“Capital costs at an airport just never end. We spend millions of dollars on things that the public doesn’t even realize, like the baggage system,” said Waschuk.
“Three or four years ago, we resurfaced both runways; that was close to $20 million. It adds up. We recently moved a taxiway because of the potential expansion in that direction … it was in the double-digit millions.”
As airlines pay fees to use the airport, Waschuk said the RAA tries to make Regina’s airport an attractive place for airlines to land.
“We’re competing against every airport in North America in trying to get airlines to come here, because every city in North America wants better air service,” said Waschuk. “(Airlines) will look to lower-cost places every time, where they can make the most money. That’s what it’s all about for them, that’s all it’s about.”
Regina Airport Authority is hosting an open house Thursday, 5 to 7:30 p.m., in the main terminal of the airport. Parking is free to attendees.
This event is Phase 2 of a three-phase public consultation.
A public open house was held in July. The third facet will be an almost-finished master plan presented in December, which will then be forwarded to Transport Canada.
Prev
Linear Mode
