By IAN ROSS
North Bay mayor Vic Fedeli wants Ottawa to upgrade local transportation infrastructure, not help tear it up.
Fedeli is heading a local task group of city and airport staff to make a pitch for federal funding to help resurface the 10,000-foot runway at Jack Garland Airport this year.
It's been a long-standing issue to get the runway resurfaced.Though the runway remains in good shape, airport officials say after more than 20 years, a new surface is necessary to keep the entire length of runway intact.
Fedeli says the cost to pave the runway is about $5 million, roughly the same as the federal government offered to tear it up and reduce it to 6,500 feet.
"That's a non-starter," says Fedeli of the latter option. 'They'll be barricades up there. We're not letting anybody shorten that runway."
With the aid of the Department of Defence, national and international airlines, the city is building a case for funding to Transport Canada and any sympathetic ear in Ottawa within the next six months.
"No doubt in my mind, it should be resurfaced not torn up, it's a very important economic development tool that's unique in the North," says Fedeli.
In the late 1990s, when airports were turned over to the municipalities to operate, Ottawa set up a funding program for local authorities to apply for infrastructure improvement money.
However, under the Airport Capital Assistance Program, North Bay doesn't qualify for resurfacing the entire 10,000 feet. The feds are only willing to pay for 6,500 feet, since the largest aircraft regularly landing at Jack Garland is a Dash 8 turboprop.
But Jack Garland is vital to air traffic controllers in Toronto and Montreal. It serves as an emergency landing strip for Boeing 747s and Airbus 340s when aircraft are diverted because of severe weather conditions or during emergencies, such as the September 11, 2001 U.S. terrorist attacks or the Air France crash at Toronto's Pearson Airport in 2005.
In March, seven domestic and international flights were diverted to North Bay because of snowstorms in Toronto and Ottawa.
North Bay is one of only four airports in Ontario with a runway length of 10,000 feet along with Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton.
The military-length strip was once the home of 414 Fighter Squadron at CFB North Bay before the unit pulled out in 1992.
Fedeli says shortening the runway hurts any future growth plans to land heavy-lift aircraft or continue with winter testing of aircraft.
The airport has hosted Russian cargo aircraft and has a history of serving as a flight test venue for the Dash 8-400s and the Global Express corporate jet.
NASA has also conducted winter friction testing for eight years and Pratt & Whitney have brought aircraft with test engines to North Bay.
Fedeli says it's an avenue the airport corporation and city wants to promote internationally.
For aerospace companies and agencies, Jack Garland is an ideal facility. There's unrestricted 24-hour access, dedicated flight test corridors and all the services available for emergencies.
Fedeli says Ottawa isn't recognizing the aircraft Jack Garland's services during those emergency diverts. "They don't acknowledge the specialty services that utilize the full 10,000 (feet)."
