$150 million needed for airport plans

By J.P. SQUIRE Wednesday, July 12, 2006 http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/article_2516.php
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Passenger volumes at Kelowna International Airport are expected to double and perhaps even triple to three million a year in the next 20 years.But getting to that level will require an investment of $150 million to nearly double the size of the terminal, build a four-level parkade with 2,400 stalls, two runway extensions to 10,000 feet and a new taxiway the entire length of the runway.A master plan approved by city council Monday also calls for a future overpass over the CN Rail tracks and a so-called diamond or full interchange at Highway 97.The future could also see the integration of the rail line with airport operations. Other cities are building rail connections to their airports for light rail transit systems, noted Mayor Sharon Shepherd, while Kelowna already has a rail line between the highway and terminal.The master plan called for the current 7,300-foot runway to be extended to 9,000 feet by 2008 and to 10,000 feet by 2025. A single runway would be enough to accommodate the 133,000 aircraft movements expected in 2025.A runway extension to the south would require the acquisition of an addition 15 hectares of land: seven in the regional district and eight in the city.The runway extension will allow fully loaded aircraft with wingspans up to 65 metres, including the Airbus 330 and Boeing 787.The Airbus has a range of 4,850 nautical miles and the Boeing 787 a range of 7,000 nautical miles to reach destinations such as Europe and Australia.The peak number of passengers in the terminal building will increase from the current 380-480 passengers in one hour to 680 by 2015 and to 900 by 2025, according to the report. So the terminal will nearly double to 19,000 square metres by expanding to the southwest, where the long-term parking lot is now located.The impact of the airport was 1,835 jobs and $310 million in economic output in 2005, which is expected to increase to 3,104 jobs and more than $525 million in economic activity by 2015.At Monday’s meeting, councillors approved the latest expansion that will provide a parking space for another large aircraft.A $2.4-million contract to Ansell Construction will also add 381 new parking stalls to the long-term parking lot and pave the 300 gravel stalls built in 2005. That will result in a total of 2,202 public parking stalls at the airport.Roger Sellick told council he used to think he was the general manager of an airport, but with all the changes in recent years, he joked he now thinks of himself as “the manager of a construction site where airplanes land.”