Powell River Regional District has voluntarily surrendered federal government certification for the Texada Island airport.
Al Radke, the regional district’s chief administrative officer, said surrendering the certificate was a matter of safety to the public. “That is the biggest concern,” he said. “It was evident that in order to comply with current standards, it would be cost exorbitant for the small electoral area to fund it all.”
The regional district is the owner and operator of the airport, which is a service funded by taxpayers on Texada, Electoral Area D. Transport Canada regulations introduced in 2008 involve a number of costly provisions to maintain certification. A consultant completed a comprehensive report in September last year that provided information on the issue and the Texada airport advisory committee and island residents have been discussing certification since then.
The alternative to surrendering its certification would have been to undergo a Transport Canada audit, then have the agency strip the airport of its certification, said Radke.
Radke said he met with the Texada airport advisory committee on September 23 to discuss the issue. The regional district also engaged a consultant from Langley to be an interim airport manager, he said. “He turned out to be a great resource for us, because he acted as an intermediary in order to help navigate us through this process,” Radke said.
For the short term, the facility will be considered a registered airport, Radke said, not a certified airport.
In order to continue the services of KD Air, which makes daily scheduled flights to Texada, the regional district has to make an application to give the airline exemption and exclusivity, Radke said.
In the long term, Radke said, the regional district would like to get certification status back, but through a ministerial exemption. “I think the future for the users and the flyers of the airport is good,” he said.
Diana Banke, KD Air president, said the company will continue to provide service. “Nothing changes at this time,” she said.
Pete Stiles, chair of the Texada airport advisory committee, said the regional district didn’t have a choice. “There were things that had to be done to keep the airport certified and it would have been too much of a burden on Area D, because that’s the only part of the regional district that pays for the airport,” he said. “We felt that we could just not spend the money required to upgrade to the level required by Transport Canada.”
Meanwhile, maintenance at the airport will continue, Stiles said.
