By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Ultra-low cost carrier could start up in Red Deer in 2019

Apr 17, 2018 | 11:11 AM

It’s looking like 2019 could be the year an ultra-low cost carrier comes to the Red Deer Regional Airport.

CEO Graham Ingham presented an update to city council Monday, noting things are moving at a bit of a slower pace than desired.

He’s confident though that it will be worth the wait.

“To date, I’ve had no formal discussions with Swoop as far as serving the Red Deer airport, but both Canada Jetlines and Enerjet are very much interested in establishing a presence here in Red Deer as soon as they get up and running.”

Canada Jetlines has even gone as far as including Red Deer in the third growth period of its planned route map. In that company’s most recent corporate update from March 2018, it states servicing agreements were recently concluded with airports in Hamilton, Abbotsford and Halifax.

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“They often say in aviation that everything moves at the speed of darkness,” Ingham said. “Starting airlines from scratch can take quite a bit of time. There were some additional approvals created by the Canadian government and there were changes made to foreign ownership rules allowing for more risk capital to be accessible in Canada.”

Ingham says there’s too much work needed to be done to accommodate one or more ultra-low cost carriers, but $2 million will be needed for apron expansion, $2.5 to expand the terminal, and $500,000 for parking lot expansion.

“We’re confident that based on revenue projections, the airport would be in a position to look at some kind of institutional financing rather than approaching the City and County as is usually the case,” he said.

Airport revenues grew in 2017 to a record $1.23 million from $900,000 in 2013.

If a new low-cost airline like Canada Jetlines did open up shop in Red Deer, service could begin with three flights a week, moving to seven per week in 2020 and 14 each week in 2021.

In addition, Red Deer County does have plans to build a new road north from the airport linking up at Township Road 374, which then runs to Highway 2A.The airport owns more than 900,000 square metres (0.9 square km) of land worth about $2.7 million along where the new road will be.

Ingham says this could mean more opportunity to bring in revenue from large scale commercial developments.