Business View Magazine | November 2019

146 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2019 the economies of the two continents. And within Canada, it is linked to CN Rail’s transcontinental rail system that goes north, south, east, and west, and a highway network that goes in all four directions. The Airport, itself, encompasses 2,034 acres of land, has the infrastructure of any modern-day city, and provides essential, if not indispensable, public services. It is serviced by the following airlines: Air Canada Express, with flights to Vancouver; WestJet, with seasonal flights to Puerto Vallarta; WestJet Encore, with flights to Vancouver; WestJet Link, with flights to Calgary; Pacific Coastal Airways serving Victoria; and Central Mountain Air, which operates about 12 flights a day in and out of Prince George, serving north-central BC and Alberta. Its Cargo carriers are KF Cargo and SkyLink Express, both with flights to Kamloops and Vancouver. Other Airport tenants include: Guardian Aerospace, a training facility that also rents and charters aircraft; Northern Thunderbird Air, another charter company that also provides medivac service; Yellowhead Helicopters; Executive Flight Centre, a fuel supplier; Ron’s Aviation, an FBO; Allied Aviation, another FBO that also provides fueling for the Airport’s own into-plane fueling company called Jetmark; Rosenau Transport, an anchor tenant in the airport-built cargo facility; RS and Associates, ground handlers, who help manage the flow of aircraft, cargo, and baggage; NAV Canada, a privately run, not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada’s civil air navigation system; the Canadian Air Transport Security Agency; the Canadian Border Services Agency; rental car agencies (National, Budget, and Hertz); and licensed food service locations. In 2018, over 506,500 passengers used Prince George Airport, and its net earnings topped $4.4 million, which is a good thing, according to retiring President & Chief Executive Officer, John Gibson, since the Canadian Transportation Act of 1996 mandates that its National Airports be self-sufficient. “It was recognized back then, that the smaller of the 26 National Airports would struggle for their total capital coverage,” Gibson explains. “We cover our operating costs, but we’re not as self-sufficient as we’d like to be. It’s very hard for an airport under a million passengers to do that. But all the funds that we earn at the Airport get turned back into the Airport, and we’re certainly able to sustain the rehabilitation of the infrastructure. It’s just if we get to a point where we need to expand, that’s where the capital is probably going to need some support from various levels of government. For the last ten years, since I’ve been here, we’ve had only about $5 million of capital support from provincial and federal governments and we’ve probably invested over $47 million in the Airport.” In prior years, some of those investments have included a 2008-09 extension of Runway 15-