Business View Magazine | November 2019

149 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2019 PR INCE GEORGE INTERNAT IONAL A I RPORT and there’s a high level of service that’s been provided - water, sewer and electricity,” Gibson reveals. “There’s not as strong a link between the airfield and the Park as there will be next year; we’re working with the city and the landowner to develop a stronger link, either going to the Airport through normal service gates, or looking at the ability to go on a ‘through-the-fence’ program, where you can apply to have parts of that land act like they are Airport land. For the most part, we don’t want the Airport to buy the property because we are on federal government land and whatever we buy for the Airport’s benefit returns automatically to the federal government. So, our preference is to keep it as private land and work with the federal government to allow access to our Airport land in a way that the landowner will meet all security and safety regulations of the federal government.” “And we have room to grow,” Clarke notes. “We have roughly 600 acres within our border that are leasable to commercial or industrial businesses, and about 2,500 acres of privately-owned land that butts up against the Airport,” Gibson adds. “The Airport services northern British Columbia whose main economy is the resource industry,” says Gibson, reasserting the Airport’s important connection to the local economy. “That’s forestry, mining, and liquid natural gas. So, if you’re in any of the natural resource industries, you should really give Prince George Airport a look. Also, if you’re in the cargo or logistics business, moving freight from Asia to North America, you should really look at Prince George Airport. We’ve got the Airport; we’ve got CN Rail that goes north/south; we’ve got a road network – we’re the first airport that connects road and rail network to the Port of Prince Rupert, which is about an eight-hour drive west of us and the quickest ocean route between Asia to North America. So, it’s really a great opportunity for moving goods as inexpensively and quickly as possible.” By the way, Prince George International Airport is the first airport in North America to have an The Board of Directors of the Prince George Airport Authority recently announced that Gordon Duke will be its next President and Chief Executive Officer. Duke joins the PGAA from the North Peace Airport in Fort St. John, where he is currently Managing Director. Duke’s extensive aviation background includes 11 years with Air Canada Cargo, an eight-year period as Director of Operations at Halifax Regional Airport, as well as time with Garda World Aviation Services. He has served as Chair of the Canadian Airport Council’s Operations, Safety and Technical Affairs committee, bringing a high degree of technical skill to the job. Duke will officially join the PGAA on November 1, 2019.