Nav Canada has announced they will be conducting an aeronautical study to determine whether or not the control tower at YXS is still needed.
The Prince George Airport Authority (PGAA) is now lobbying to keep the tower, which’s future is undetermined due to the serious decline in revenue the airline industry has seen across the country.
“NavCanada brings a really strong level of support to the airline industries however there revenues, like all of ours, are contingent on using the service, with the dramatic drop in revenues they’ve been trying to find any way they can to cut costs,” explained Gord Duke, President and CEO of the PGAA.
Nav Canada is a fully privatized civil air navigation service provider that owns and operates Canada’s civil air navigation system.
The company offers services such as area control centres and flight service stations to a network of more than 1,000 ground-based navigation aids.
“They started with 26 airports that they said were going to undergo assessment in late August,” added Duke, “then Prince George and five other airports were added to that list in November.”
Duke explained that if Nav Canada decides to scale down service to YXS, the control tower would become a flight service station.
“We understand their situation but airports and airlines need some kind of federal government support to help us through this,” explained Duke.
The air travel industry initially expected to have a surplus of around $251-million in 2020, however, according to Duke, there was instead a total net loss of $1.5 billion.
“The aviation sector in Canada has contributed significantly over the years to the federal government’s revenue streams and this is the first time that we’ve seen such a dramatic and extended drop,” he added.
The issue was discussed on Monday (Dec 21st) Council Meeting, where Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall explained that city staff have already written a letter in support of PGAA keeping the control tower.
The letter outlined the need for the control tower, as it doesn’t just benefit Prince George but also plenty of Northern communities.
“I have received many comments from communities across the north about this already and we are here to support you and make sure any lobbying efforts that can be done will be done,” stated Councillor Cori Ramsay.
During the presentation to Council, Duke explained that he appreciates the City’s level of support and hopes it will contribute to Nav Canada’s decision on the tower’s future.
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