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IN DEPTH: Regional growth, upgrades fuel Nanaimo airport’s soaring success

Haying at his family’s farm in the 1960s, Mike Hooper would see an occasional small plane fly overhead from the nearby airfield, a former RCAF glider pilot training facility built in Cassidy during the Second World War.
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Haying at his family’s farm in the 1960s, Mike Hooper would see an occasional small plane fly overhead from the nearby airfield, a former RCAF glider pilot training facility built in Cassidy during the Second World War.

Hooper has seen some sweeping changes along Spitfire Road since those days, many of them within the last decade as president and CEO of YCD, Nanaimo Airport.

“It’s one of the fastest growing airports of its size in Canada,” Hooper said. “We’ve grown 108 percent in the last six years. We’re expecting 355,000 passengers in 2017 and that’s 10 years ahead of our original passenger forecast.”

In the same period, Victoria and Comox airports have seen about 20 percent growth. Why the steep climb here?

The central Island’s population growth has been a major catalyst for the uptick. Increased air travel — now made up of 72 percent leisure and 28 percent business traffic — has brought additional revenue, helping to fund airport improvements and attract major carriers, which in turn have brought competitively priced airfares to attract more passengers. YCD’s central location and ease of access have also helped.

“One of the big reasons for that growth was to achieve reliable, scheduled service. Because of our reliable service and the ability to accommodate 737-700W, it attracted additional air carriers,” Hooper said. “Our two primary carriers now are Air Canada travelling to Vancouver and Calgary, and WestJet, which travels to Calgary. Both of them are fabulous as air carriers and are doing a great job.”

Vancouver Island University illustrates the market dynamic. With its increasing enrolment of international students, VIU has become the airport’s biggest single customer. That would not have been possible without other key contributors such as competitive airfares.

“Once you hit YCD, Nanaimo Airport, you really have one stop to the whole world. You can go anywhere in the world. Once you reach Calgary, you can go anywhere in the world. You can reach Europe and the whole of North America. We already have the runway capacity to reach Cuba, Mexico, Hawaii, so we can support future traffic to those destinations.”

As airport manager, Hooper was quick to credit the “team” — the not-for-profit airport commission comprised of directors representing the surrounding region — for guiding YCD’s soaring success.

“The team’s done really well. We’ve gone from an airport that had 74 percent reliability in 2008 to over 98 percent reliability now. We put in a runway extension in 2009 and with that we put in an instrument landing system that fixed our winter reliability challenges.”

Travellers may have noticed continued airport improvements over the last year, including additional parking, a doubling in size of the airport apron and completion of a new fire hall, the latter project funded through the federal Airport Capital Assistance Program. More changes are on the immediate horizon.

“We are going to do the first piece of the terminal expansion in November and we’ll break ground on the full terminal expansion in February 2018,” Hooper said. “That will be about an 18- to 24-month process and we’ve designed it so that it does not impact the travelling public.”

The $12.4-million terminal expansion is “modularized,” enabling construction to take place in designated areas while public use is shifted elsewhere in the building. Funding for the expansion is shared on a one-third basis between provincial and federal governments while the airport covers the remaining third through passenger revenues. Those revenues have risen in recent years due to higher volumes.

Alongside international airports, YCD remains relatively small with just 14 employees in administration and another half-dozen in the Executive Flight Centre. The warm smiles of Blue Navigators, a group of 40 volunteers who welcome air travellers at YCD, reflect that smaller scale.

Facilities and staffing, however, tell only part of the story. There are an estimated 1,200 direct and indirect jobs as well as a total economic output of $229 million created by YCR. Airports also serve as business incubators with multiple spinoff benefits. Hooper foresees broader possibilities to capitalize on the airport as an air cargo and service hub.

“We do have great opportunities here. We’ve got about 100 hectares of land we can develop for aviation use and that’s untapped. We’re only 15 minutes from Vancouver, so even corporate aircraft could come into Nanaimo Airport for servicing.”

FedEx, which has an airport office, quadrupled its business in the first year, then quadrupled it again over the next 18 months.

Growth is usually a two-edged sword that brings its share of challenges, though.

“Our biggest challenge is going to be to modularize all the projects, whether it’s the terminal building, the roads, the parking lots. Modularize them to ensure that we meet the travelling public and aviation user needs while we ensure that we have the money we need to grow in those areas.”

What lies in store for the travelling public?

“I think what we’re going to see is future development within Canada, including nonstop flight service to places like Toronto, and then we’ll see growth going in to the central U.S., places like Las Vegas and the sun destinations,” Hooper said. “We’ve created a 20-year master plan for our terminal building and it’s looking at having the ability to meet that future service based on the growing needs of population growth and customer needs.”

Alex Stuart, who served as Ladysmith mayor from 1984-1988, joined the airport commission two years ago. He sees direct and indirect opportunities for future employment and investment as a result of YCD’s growth.

“We’re excited to play a critical role in the phenomenal growth of the central Island,” Stuart said, pointing to Ladysmith’s own development surge in foreshore and upland areas of the town.

He noted that Ladysmith had an opportunity to take over the airport in 1967 but felt that the challenges and responsibilities far exceeded its ability to manage them even at that time. As it turns out, YCD has grown to be far more valuable to the region as a whole than anyone could have imagined 50 years ago.

“It’s a phrase everyone uses, but I think the citizens of Vancouver Island are blessed to live where we live,” Stuart said.





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