The Prince George Airport Authority is seriously considering a $5 to $10 increase to the airport improvement fee as a way to raise enough money to pay for $50 million worth of upgrades it plans to pursue over the next 10 years.
Passengers currently pay $20 every time they fly out of Prince George – the fee does not apply to arrivals – and starting in 2016, they could be paying $25 to $30, PGAA president John Gibson said this week, if the authority goes ahead with the hike.
During a presentation to city council on Monday night, Gibson said WestJet is concerned because the federal government now requires airlines to quote the "full-end price" for plane tickets, including the airport improvement fee.
"So when we come along and add $5 or $10, we're actually increasing their published fares," Gibson said in answer to a question from Coun. Garth Frizzell. "They've got some modeling that shows what the impact will be and they're going to share that with us.
"Our feeling is yeah, you're going to slowly but surely start to erode it, because it's not $5 or $10, it's $25 or $30 and it's on top of all the other charges that are levied by the government as well."
Gibson said the problem would be solved if the federal government stepped in. But because the airport is on federal land, the airport authority is ineligible for programs that would see Ottawa come to its aid.
"The federal government doesn't fund upgrades to federal government property that are operated by somebody else," Gibson said in an interview on Tuesday. There are five other airports across Canada in the same situation, he added.
He said both Prince George-Peace River MP Bob Zimmer and Cariboo-Prince George MP Dick Harris have been "very supportive" in taking the PGAA's case to Ottawa for a change in policy.
In part, the money raised would pay for upgrades to "air-side infrastructure" - such as the runway lighting systems, the taxi-ways and aprons - as set out in an engineer's report completed last fall. It would also pay for upgrades to "ground-side infrastructure" such as the roads into the airport, and the sewer and water systems and purchasing new emergency equipment.
One of the larger projects is repaving and re-lighting the cross-wind runway, an $11-million project.
Used primarily by smaller aircraft when the wind is strong, it accounts for about 20 per cent of the airport's traffic.
After depreciation, the PGAA took in about $2.4 million from airport improvement fees last year and every $5 increase to the fee is expected to add about $1 million. The aim is to raise $5 million a year over 10 years from the fee, Gibson said.
A record-setting 445,929 passengers passed through the airport last year, a 15-per-cent increase over 2013, but Gibson said there is currently no need to expand the terminal in the next 10 years.
Answering a question from Coun. Frank Everitt on Monday night, Gibson said there is no chance covered ramps to the airplanes will be introduced.
He said the airlines do not want them because they would impede their turnaround times.
