SPRINGBROOK - Premier Rachel Notley gave her stamp of approval of the new $9.5 million runway expansion at Red Deer Airport.
"We talked about the runway expansion and what it meant to the Red Deer Airport," said airport CEO Graham Ingham. "We're so happy that we were able to get the funding to do the runway expansion."
Ingham joined the Alberta premier for a photo opportunity on the completed runway on March 30. She was not scheduled to make comments or conduct interviews with media.
The 2,000-foot extension of the primary runway at Red Deer Airport was completed last fall and has been in use for several months.
The City of Red Deer and Red Deer County contributed a total of $3.5 million to the project while the provincial government, through the Alberta Community Partnership Grant, committed $6 million.
Ingham gave Notley her first look at the completed runway expansion.
"It's definitely a good use of the province's as well as the city and county's money," said Ingham. "It will definitely help us grow the business as well as become a key economic driver for the both the city and county of Red Deer."
Ingham noted the work required anticipating the future growth of the region.
"There's a couple of things we needed to do in order to be able to position ourselves well for growth in the future," he added. "One was to extend the runway and the second, that we are just having discussions about now, is extending the terminals to process more people."
"(The runway expansion) was the first step in our growth plan."
Since the runway expansion became operational, there has not been any immediate increase in use, he noted.
"We are anticipating and working towards some opportunities that would drastically see the level of service increase in Red Deer," said Ingham, adding he did not have any projected numbers.
"It's our long-term goal to increase traffic in Red Deer," he added, noting that there are currently about 42,000 aircraft movements a year at the airport.
The runway expansion also includes a holding bay that can accommodate large aircraft, a needed feature that will cut waiting times, said Ingham.
The Red Deer Airport runway extension will officially be unveiled in a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on May 12.
Graham Ingham, Red Deer Airport CEO
"It will definitely help us grow the business as well as become a key economic driver for the both the city and county of Red Deer."
