A full eight hundred kilometres north of the West Coast metropolis of Vancouver, Prince George – population 80,000 – sits on the boreal plain surrounded by miles and miles of not much other than landand lakes.
Part of this, relatively inexpensive, land was recently purchased in order to fulfill a C$36 million (US$28 million) vision to turn the Prince George Airport (YXS) into a refueling and technical stop for cargo planes servicing the transpacific trade lane and later, hopefully, as a cargo transhipment point.
“We’ve just lengthened the runway from 7,400 feet to 11,450 feet and marketing ourselves as a gas-and-go, or tech stop for transpacific flights and later hopefully cargo,” said Todd Doherty, manager of Aviation Services for the Prince George Airport Authority. The runway extension means YXS now has the third longest runway in Canada.
“Adjacent to the airport we’ve got 110 acres airside for cargo or hangars and also adjacent to the airport we’ve got a 3,000 acre logistics park that’s being developed. We’re also hoping to capitalise on the freight that’s coming by rail from the Portof Prince Rupert,” he added.
Location, location, location
Prince George’s location should help it in its ambitions, lying as it does at the intersection of the main northsouth and east-west roads and rail lines. Newly upgraded rail lines carry growing container traffic from the new multi-million Fairview Terminal in nearby coastal Prince Rupert, which was developed as part of the country’s new Pacific Gateway strategy. A new C$20 million intermodal facility was also built by CN rail in Prince George.
Aimed at leveraging transportation infrastructure in a bid to capture more of the transpacific trade with Asia, in part as a faster, cheaper alternative for moving cargo into the central US markets likeChicago, the new airport development is as a component of this strategy.
From an airline perspective it sits in a prime location, directly below the circumpolar air routes linking North America with Asia. Studies done for the airport suggest that B747-400s flying from China’s Pearl River Delta or Hong Kong to Dallas could save 3,600 kilograms of fuel per flight – and more than C$300,000 (US$231,000) a year – by stopping in Prince George instead of Anchorage’s Ted Stevens International Airport, the long-time destination for such refueling and technical stops.
“In initial discussions with carriers a few years ago, what we were hearing from the industry was that there was some desire to look for alternatives on the transpacific,” Doherty said.
“Nobody’s ever going to shut down Anchorage and we don’t want to do that,” he adds, saying Prince George is looking to carve out a niche by off ering specialised services, as well as shoulder the overflow from Anchorage which it reaches its peak capacity at certain times of the year, or during bad weatherin the winter.
Cheaper than Anchorage
One of the main selling points obviously, is the ability for Prince Georgeto offer overall lower costs whetherit be ground handling or airport fees.The airport authority estimates carrierscan save up to C$5,000 (US$3,900)per flight by choosing Prince Georgeover Anchorage. Doherty is also quickto point out that the airport operates24/7 with no noise restrictions and nocongestion.
Prince George Airport was also given a major boost for its cargo ambitions when it was recently awarded special designation, along with a handful of other Canadian airports, as an international air cargo transshipment facility.
The programme allows air cargo to be moved through Canada for shipment to third countries. For example, cargo could be flown from the US into Prince George, stored temporarily, and then flown to an Asian destination.
Similarly, international air cargo could also arrive from overseas and then be shipped by rail or road from Prince George to the US, allowing the airport to take full advantage of the Asia-Pacific Gateway and crucially avoiding the restrictive issue of air bi-laterals.
“We’ve set our goals fairly low in the beginning and are looking at 1,500 flights in the first five years. Our initial feedback is that we could see that figure fairly quickly, with anywhere between 4 and 10 flights a day.
“Now we can handle up to four flights at a time and as we grow we have plans for up to 21 parking bays for widebodied aircraft, in about 5-10 years or as needed,” he says.
Currently the runway is now operational with a new fueling pad operational in the Spring.
“We’re meeting with carriers face to face to market the airport, which began four or five years just to gauge the interest. That proved there was indeed interest, which led to construction and now we’re not talking about a vision, we’re marketing a product and there is definitely interest,” Doherty said.
