The Calgary Airport Authority will spend $2.4 billion over the next five years to expand its facilities, including a new 22-aircraft gate wing and the launch of the longest runway in Canada.
The ambitious plans of Canada's fourth-busiest airport will cost passengers in increased airport improvement fees and traffic jams as construction will close down a major route into the facility.
But the benefits in terms of increased access to the world and smoother services in the long run outweigh the shorter-term inconveniences, president Garth Atkinson said Thursday.
" This is a massive contractual and statistical eff ort," Atkinson said. "It's like launching a supertanker, and might well be the largest construction project in the history of Calgary."
The new $ 1.3-billion concourse will serve primarily international flights. The 1.3-million-square-foot facility will incorporate cogeneration to reduce carbon dioxide levels, geothermal wells for cooling and heating and the ability to harvest rain water.
"We are planning and building for the future," Atkinson said after the authority's 18th annual meeting.
"The airport is a small city, and building up a small city is a challenge but an opportunity to get it right and position ourselves for the future."
Construction of the 4,267-metre runway, equivalent to the length of downtown Calgary, will require closing Barlow Trail north of McKnight Boulevard as of April 3, 2011, so the runway can be open for service by 2015. The city will open a link through Metis Trail in late 2011, allowing drivers to loop up 36th Street.
"We don't believe the Airport Trail extension issue is an airport access issue. It's a city network issue," Atkinson said. "They had to look at it in terms of their overall network priorities and that's what they did. We're quite satisfied we will continue to have very acceptable access."
A number of access points exist to the airport terminal and the industrial zones on the authority's 2,000 hectares of land, he added.
The expansion, which includes upgrades to existing facilities and a new air traffic control tower south of the main terminal, will be paid for primarily through the airport improvement fee, which increased a dollar to $22 in 2010, and debt financing through long-term bonds.
"The airport is an asset for every one in Calgary," said analyst Rick Erickson, of RP Erickson & Associates. "I see this authority working aggressively to ensure we have plenty of assets in the future. Yes, it costs money, but the economic value of $6 billion and about 40,000 jobs for the community is what the investment is for."
Last year, the authority invested $162 million in the airport, also known as YYC, adding a parkade, a trans-border baggage handling facility and upgrading airfield systems and telecommunications systems.
Although travel fell 2.7 per cent, Calgary welcomed and waved goodbye to 12.2 million passengers during the year.
Total revenues for 2009 inched up to $248.9 million from $246.1 million a year prior. Improvement fees added $89.1 million to the till, up from $87.1 million a year prior.
Expenditures rose by 1.1 per cent to $186 million, with outstanding debt as of Dec. 31, 2009, at $365 million.
Among costs were $20.7 million paid to Transport Canada in rent.
Airlines continued to add routes and destinations from Calgary in 2009, including new direct service to Amsterdam by KLM and increased service by Mexicana Airlines. Domestic flights expanded to include service to Whitehorse and London, Ont., as well as new flights to Portland, San Francisco, San Diego and Hawaii.
domeara@theherald.canwest.com
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