Commercial airlines could soon be landing at the Edson Airport after the federal government approved new regulations that will allow it to operate as a commercial airport.
The new regulations, announced July 27, will provide the airport access to screening services from the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA)—a key requirement in the process to becoming a fully functioning commercial airport.
Despite the announcement, it could still be years before the first commercial airline lands in Edson.
“I think everybody is anxious to do it sooner, rather than later, but we want to do it right and that takes planning,” said Doug Goss, board chair of Tourism Jasper.
“There’s a lot of work left for us, but we could not even contemplate that work without this significant step today,” said Mayor Richard Ireland.
Both men declined to provide a timeline for when the airport might open, but said a lot of work has already been done.
“There’s been a lot of work done with the consultants and in particular with our commercial air carriers, both Air Canada and West Jet, on the feasibility of the region,” said Goss, estimating it will cost about $5 to $6 million to get the airport up and running.
When the airport does become operational, Ireland said he expects about 10 to 20 per cent of passengers will be headed to Jasper.
“That’s still really significant to us,” said Ireland. “Dealing in a mountain environment, as we do in Jasper, and with the federal government, we are quite used to things literally moving at a glacial pace. That didn’t happen here, yes it took a few years to get to this point, but that is lightning speed from our perspective.”
Ireland took time to thank Mary Darling, CEO of Tourism Jasper, for her work on the file and Goss praised former MLA Robin Campbell for his efforts in bringing this to fruition.
Greg Pasychny, mayor of Edson, welcomed the news and said the Edson Airport is the largest in the region and is capable of handling 737 airplanes
To get to this point, Jasper, Hinton, Edson, Yellowhead County and Tourism Jasper all pitched in $15,000 for a total of $75,000, which was then matched by the provincial government.
“When you start doing things as a partnership with that many partners it becomes very affordable and easy to do,” said Pasychny.
“Hopefully as a partnership we can continue moving forward with this and bring air service to this region, because we really have all the other elements except for commercial air service,” he said.
In addition to Edson’s new designation, nine other airports across the country, including one in Cold Lake, Alta., will now be able to become commercial airports, as well, said Yellowhead MP Jim Eglinski.
There are more than 200 airports across Canada that offer commercial flights, but fewer than half of those are considered designated airports that provide mandatory passenger and baggage screening. Edson is now one of those airports.
“It takes a very strict set of safety guidelines to become a designated airport and to get onto that list,” said Eglinski, adding it will lead to greater prosperity and more jobs for the entire region.
Paul Clarke
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