Rural airports in southern Saskatchewan are important, but it will take some creative approaches, and greater government support in order for them to be viable moving forward.
That was the consensus message of panel of industry people speaking on 'Small Airport Sustainability' at the 2011 Wings of Saskatchewan Conference in Yorkton last Thursday.
Don Rae, with Crusader Drilling in Yorkton, a firm involved in oil well drilling, said having a viable airport is something he sees as critical moving forward."For us time is money," said Rae, who noted while his company is based in Yorkton its Chief Financial Officer is in Calgary.
"This is my home. My family is here," he said, adding technology has made is "so I can run my office out of here."
However, the reality is he also has to be in Calgary, or other major cities several times a month and that means flying, a service he said is "lacking" in Yorkton.
Rae said scheduled passenger service "would be huge." He noted every time he, or another company official has to fly out of Yorkton, it means time on the highway to Regina, added time at the airport, and then the flight.
"We have to allow an extra day all the time," he said.
Rae said he certainly sees expanding service at the Yorkton Airport as something to pursue.
"I believe with all my heart if we can establish a good airport her it will be important moving forward," said Rae, adding moving forward, as a business looks at establishing in a city such as Yorkton "one thing they look at is the logistics of getting people around."
Ron Evinou, chair of the Yorkton Airport Authority was quick to pick up on Rae's theme of air service 小蓝视频 important to business in rural Saskatchewan.
However, Evinou said to attract greater air service will mean more investment will be needed in airports often built decades ago and little beyond very basic maintenance done since.
"Now we've got to catch up with 40, 50-years of neglect," he said.Dennis Baranieski, a vice-president with Pronto Airways said the dollars to play catch-up are an issue for the sector.
"The challenge is trying to fund these airports," he said.
Baranieski said a couple of years ago a study, commissioned by the Saskatchewan Aviation Council, was undertaken into Saskatchewan airports. At the time it was estimated there were 148 airports in the province, "most built 30-to-70 years ago.
"Most of them haven't had a lot of work done on them since."
While the province operates 17 northern airports, the pool of money for the rest is small, said Baranieski.
"The reality is there isn't a lot of money to look after 150 airports in the province," he said.
Baranieski said the study suggested there would be a need for $300 million a year to maintain the 148 airports.
"We don't think $300 million will come our way," he said.
When you recognize there will not be enough dollars for all, you have to "grind down what is the most beneficial use of the capital that is available," said Baranieski.
In that process the study suggested a more reasonable approach would be to suggest $100 million over 10-years. Baranieski added at present the province only invests $500,000 a year in southern airports through its Community Airport Program.
"I think we could do some real good work with that funding," he said.
To access then added funding, Baranieski suggested people need to look at airports in a different fashion.
"What we're talking about is a mile of highway (the landing strip) in your city we call an airport," he said. "It's a mile of highway in your city you want some support for."
The federal government only has funding available to airports with regularly scheduled passenger service, which essentially leave all of Saskatchewan's rural southern airports ineligible.
Rae said the passenger service requirement needs to reconsidered, noting charter service, parcel movements and agriculture air service are all important to Saskatchewan communities."They can't be one shoe fits all airports," he said.
Baranieski said the limited funds likely need to be targeted moving forward, likening the process to similar to what happened with hospitals where smaller facilities were closed.
"The reality is I don't think every community represented by folks here will have an airport," he said.
In that regard Baranieski said people have to start to think how a region, rather than a single community can support an airport.
Chris Oleson, with Saskatchewan Executive Air said funding is certainly an issue, adding "$10 million dollars a year would certainly go a long way."
That said Oleson said airports need to work to stay current to be viable. He pointed to the installation of Global Positioning Systems technology on landing strips to facilitate landings. The equipment costs $30-$35,000 per strip, with annual maintenance of $3,000, but would modernize airports for GPS landings, which is increasingly the standard.
Evinou said communities should not shy away from lobbying the province for the level of funding required.
"I think it's a time to be kind of bold and audacious," he said, adding even the $300 million shouldn't be seen as too much. "I think we should be demanding it. I think we should expect it. You should start to demand of your government to get the funding."
Evinou said the investment in airports simply makes business sense.
"Business people are here now and they know their time is valuable," he said, adding airports are time savers.
Evinou also suggested airport infrastructure investment pays long term dividends, with long life expectancies if proper maintenance is carried out moving forward.
John Parker knows first hand the challenges of attracting scheduled passenger service to a small airport having been involved in efforts in Swift Current.
Parker said scheduled service was lost a decade-and-a-half ago, the Number One Highway was twinned, and people began to simply travel by black top.
When the city began to investigate attracting an air service, Parker said they learned a few things quickly.
The first thing Parker warned Conference attendees was of the importance of maintaining existing federally recognized certification.
"It's very, very important to keep your certification," he said, adding once gone it is costly and time consuming to reestablish.
Beyond certification, Parker said it was not easy to attract an air service, and even after 小蓝视频 successful in bringing in a service, it proved short-lived."We ran into many obstacles," he said.
Parker said there is more than getting a service flying in and out of a community. Once it does start landing, he said the community, in particular the business sector have to use it to ensure it is viable.
"It really takes a commitment from your community to support this," he said.or Parker said in general that means business people using the service.
"This is not for Mom and Dad and the kids to fly," he said, adding it has to be sold to businesses from the aspect of saving time and money by flying. " The business community have to be there You've got to use it, or you lose it."
At the same time Parker said in retrospect it is obvious a service has to be actively marketed to potential users too.
"In this industry, like any other business, to be successful, you've got to market," he said. "It needs somebody on the ground running all the time marketing," he said.
