City council has backed a plan to investigate making the Prince George Airport more competitive.
Initiatives Prince George CEO Heather Oland made a successful request Monday night for the city's support in their application for a $15,680 grant to study making the airport an export hub for regional perishable exports.
The money would come from the Northern Development Initiative Trust 'Feasibility Studies' program - Pine Beetle recovery Fund.
With the airport working to position itself as a tech stop for planes to land and refuel, it's looking for a competitive advantage over other fueling stations that cargo freight operators use when en route to and from Asia.
"When they're coming back, they're only partially full," Oland said, noting there is no road or rail infrastructure to get products to the stop in Anchorage. "So a competitive advantage we have is to fill up the planes with export products from our region."
Those could be a variety of perishable goods that are best shipped via airplane, such as fruit, vegetables, seafood from Prince Rupert, meat or poultry from the Peace region or locally, and more.
The study, which is ready to go as soon as Northern Development Initiative Trust makes a decision Sept. 21, is also funded by IPG and the Prince George Airport and could be complete by the middle of January.
It will look at regional businesses' ability to export and what markets are available in Asia.
"We're looking for competitive advantage to land cargo planes and we believe that this a competitive advantage," Oland said. "But we need to make sure that it's a good idea, so we need to do our due diligence."
