By Alessia Proietti

$3.75 million

Ground control to Red Deer: funds approved by County for Regional Airport expansion

Apr 8, 2022 | 9:00 AM

Red Deer County council has unanimously approved a total contribution of $3.75 million towards the Red Deer Regional Airport’s 2022 Expansion Project.

The project aims to support heavier aircrafts at the airport. To do so requires the current 30-metre wide runway (Runway 17-35) to be widened to 45 metres and reconstruction of the Taxiway Bravo and Apron 1.

The County’s original 2022 budget allocated a tentative $2,048,750 for the capital project as it was expected to begin in 2023. However, with the timeline advanced to commence this year, administration requested at Tuesday’s meeting for the funds to be released with an additional $1, 701,250 from the operating reserve.

Mayor Jim Wood says the biggest opportunity the expansion will bring is the ability to transport larger amounts of cargo.

“The expansion will enable a huge opportunity to transition the airport into a more viable operation and the investment will create diversification opportunities for sectors like cargo, warehousing, and aircraft maintenance,” he said.

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“The good paying jobs that will come with this expansion, it was the step that was needed so that these businesses will be able to come in; these companies will want to be here.”

He states an added benefit will be the attraction of low-cost passenger carriers.

“I’m going to say that the bonus from all of this will be the air passenger. I believe that the other opportunities that I mentioned will be the real money makers,” he said.

Recognizing the Red Deer area as an underserved location, Wood says families could get the opportunity to travel on budget and directly to their destination without having to make multiple trips.

“If we could get 10 per cent of the people that travel to Edmonton or Calgary to fly a plane, then this airport will be very successful,” said Wood.

Having provided operational grants to the airport over the past several years, he hopes the expansion will evolve the airport into more financial self-sufficiency.

“We’re trying to see that we can in fact get them to the level of a business, because we have to consider it as a business. To the fact where they become more viable themselves. I believe this is a great step towards that,” he said.

Above all, Wood congratulated all the levels of government involved in the project, saying he believes the airport’s outcome will greatly pay off the amount invested. The Government of Alberta provided in its 2022 provincial budget $7.5 million. In 2021, Red Deer city council also approved grant funding of $3.75 million for the airport’s improvements.

READ: Red Deer Regional Airport expansion set to take flight

“This has been a long time in the works. These projects like this, they just don’t happen overnight,” said Wood.

A tender was made available for bidding in March with a submission closing date on April 8.

The Airport Authority owns and operates the airport with members in its Board of Directors appointed by the County and City of Red Deer.