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Monday, December 1, 2008
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Airport’s cargo prospects look good, council told |
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Written by MARK NIELSEN
Citizen staff
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Monday, 06 October 2008 |
Related Items
PRINCE GEORGE AIRPORT
In a story published in the National Post and The Citizen, Rick Erickson, a Calgary-based aviation consultant at R. P. Erickson & Associates, said difficulty securing a free-trade zone for the airport will seriously hinder its ability to compete with Anchorage.
However, Dan Muscatello of Landrum Brown stressed to city council Monday night that Prince George does not need a free trade zone to act as a “tech stop” -- essentially a refueling stop -- for cargo jets making their way between Asia and the Eastern Seaboard and the intent is to provide relief for Anchorage, which is becoming overwhelmed by the amount of business it is doing.
“I spoke with the director up there and he said, ‘if you can take away some of my business, please do, because we’re constrained here, we can’t handle it and it would in fact help us,’” Muscatello said. “The vision here is not to take all the traffic out of Anchorage and it never was.
“A small percentage of that (business) would provide this airport with financial sustainability and create a cargo initiative and an economic impetus here in this region that would be unlike anything you’ve seen before.”
An extension of the runway to 11,451 feet has been completed and work on a new refueling apron is ongoing and should be completed by next spring to put the finishing touches on a $36-million project.
Muscatello also stressed transshipment rights should not be confused with a free trade zone. Transshipment rights allow cargo to be transferred from one plane from one country to a plane from another at the airport while a free trade zone allows importers to avoid paying tax on items manufactured and assembled in Prince George but not meant for the Canadian market. Only items consumed by Canadians are taxed.
“The free trade zone operates within a warehouse and transshipment operates on an aircraft ramp,” Muscatello said.
The federal government has granted Prince George Airport transshipment rights but Muscatello did concede winning free trade zone status will be difficult, noting none exist in Canada.
Muscatello portrayed development of the airport as a three-phase process starting with refueling services.
The next phase would be to provide “backhaul” for jets flying into Asia, which average just 35 per cent capacity compared to 85 per cent when flying into North America. As the tech stop and backhaul services mature, a third-phase “origin and destination operation” will emerge for freight “which will be stand alone as far as producing revenue for the airport and jobs for the region,” Muscatello said.
Using Prince George will offer carriers substantial savings compared to Anchorage, according to Muscatellos. Although the cost of fuel is higher in Prince George, there are no landing and parking fees and turn-around times are half as long in Prince George, so a carrier flying between Chicago and Hong Kong three times a week would save about $534,000 a year.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 06 October 2008 )
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