Concerns about the Vernon Airport have taken flight.Some users of the city-owned facility question operational activities there in the last few years. “There’s been a lot of issues brought up by user 
groups, visitors and businesses and they’ve been completely ignored,” said Rhys Perrato
n, who owns a business at the airport. Among the issues are the city taking over operation of the fuel service from a private contractor who provided a cut of the sales to the city. “They went from 100 per cent profit to a tremendous outlay of costs (for equipment),” said Marion Ross, who owns a hangar with her husband. Perraton says fuel increases have forced him and other pilots to go to Kelowna or Salmon Arm.
On top of this, Ross claims some people have been allowed to construct hangars while others haven’t, and it took 18 months for hangar leases to be negotiated. “We are questioning the decisions being made such as promoting commercial airlines which will never happen,” she said. Financially, Ross claims the airport had a net loss of $34,653 in 2004 and that grew to $63,865 in 2005 — the most recent information she had access to. “The cost is astronomical compared to the return,” she said, adding airport administration has gone from part to full-time. Allison Crerar, who owns a business at the airport, says communications are poor, pointing to the closure of the runway for work. “There wasn’t a word said to anyone. All of a sudden it was closed,” she said.
City hall is defending operation of the airport. “Direction of the airport is set by council,” said Leon Gous, chief administrative officer, adding that Transport Canada’s safety regulations must also be followed. There is also an advisory committee made up of pilots, neighbours and Vernon Flying Club members. “All of these service issue concerns have been addressed and they are nothing new,” said Gous. Mayor Wayne Lippert is aware of the concerns and insists airport users haven’t been ignored. “We will have to look into them and see if there is anything to them,” he said. “I support the airport and I want to make sure it is running as smoothly as possible.”
Grahame Go, airport manager, referred policy matters to city hall, but he spoke about operational issues such as closing the runway for upgrades. “The closure was discussed with Transport Canada and all requirements were followed. Information was put out to the pilots and a news release was issued,” he said. He challenges suggestions that the airport’s finances are in poor shape. “The financial statements are on the Web and we have been in surpluses except for last year. The board decided to deal with 60 trees for safety reasons,” said Go.
Airport users recently received a letter from the city about complaints directed towards Go. “The assault against Mr. Go’s professional abilities cannot be taken lightly and I have therefore advised Mr. Go to seek legal advice on the campaign against him. The city will also be obtaining its own legal advice on some of the comments made respecting the airport,” said Gous in the Nov. 2 letter. The city’s actions have upset many airport users. “That letter has people so riled up they are willing to back the effort to get something done,” said Perraton. Gous says the thrust of the letter was to let all users know about the situation and to clarify that it is the city that runs the airport. We got some scathing e-mail that went on a personal attack and was over the line. I stand by the letter and its content,” he said.
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