The City of Lloydminster has accepted an updated airport master plan.
The presentation was made by Ben Crooks from HM Aero Aviation Consulting at the Oct. 21 council meeting.
The old airport master plan was completed and approved in 2020, and in April 2024, WestJet ceased operation in Lloydminster.
The master plan involved rounds of public engagement, there were in-person events in May 2024, two open houses totalling 53 attendees, and a Startup Lloydminster presentation with 25 attendees.
An online survey, Your Voice Lloyd, was open from April to May 2024 with 1,790 webpage visits, 709 survey responses, 90 per cent resident responses and 10 per cent businesses.
“In going out to the community and stakeholders, there are some very clear key themes that emerged through our work,” explained Crooks.
“From an air service development perspective, one overarching comment was a strong feeling of loss since the service was pulled by WestJet. That was a well-used service by both the residents and business community.”
Four key items for the priority of restoration for passenger air service include reliability and confidence in schedule, flight timings and destinations, airport convenience of access and airfares matching ability to pay.
According to data collected, the catchment area generates 283,000 trips by air.
Key items for the airport facilities and services include improvements to the departure lounge – seating and post-security washroom access, food and options and amenities.
Findings with the airport master plan update found market conditions have fundamentally challenged the 2020 plan. The new plan takes a more flexible trigger-based approach to airfield infrastructure and terminal building development.
The capital plan recommends $25.5 million in predefined projects over 20 years with $13.4 million in trigger-based projects.
“We’ve also got some other projects we recommend through our work, we refer to as triggered-based projects, that’s about $13 million in investment, primarily to facilities and infrastructure that are targeted air-carrier readiness and support,” he said. “Those are projects that can be implemented depending on market demand and the evolution of air services at the airport. Again, they don’t have a predefined implementation year, and the city has discretion about how it implements them.”
Crooks says of the recommended $25 million in projects, about $15 million is eligible for federal grants if scheduled services are resumed in Lloydminster.
This master plan is just one step in the process of bringing air service back to Lloydminster.
“It does not completely alleviate the concerns because until we have regular air service restored in a regular fashion, that’s really the concern they’ve (public) expressed,” said Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers.
The Lloydminster airport was one of a limited number of regional airports in Alberta with scheduled passenger air services. In 2019, the airport’s economic impacts were estimated at 56 full-time equivalent positions, labour earnings of $2.9M, and GDP contributions of $3.9M.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport saw a drop from 19,628 passengers in 2019 only recovering to about 61 per cent of its pre-pandemic levels in 2023.
Council approved the Lloydminster airport master plan and the implementation of the air service development strategy.
Read more: City making case for new air service
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