Special offer

Lethbridge Airport

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Park and Protect- Alberta Real Estate License Parking

Lethbridge Airport to receive some marketing and promotional help!

 

The Lethbridge Airport used to be a busy little place.  Back in the 80's there were several airlines who used to offer service in and out of the city, but in recent decades the airport has seemingly been in declining use.  The number of carriers has dropped and the on site services have disappeared.

 

Now however, there is finally some progress in regaining the economic and social stimulus of having a functional and profitable commercial airport.  This seems like something which is obvious, but apparently not.  The city of Lethbirdge and the County of Lethbridge are going to be working jointly to promote and improve the airport, which can only serve to benefit local Lethbridge residents and businesses.

 

The following aritcle appeared in the Sunny South News

 

Written by Gerald Gauthier   
Thursday, 17 September 2009
City and county councils have jointly committed $750,000 over the next three years to market the local airport as an attractive connection and stopover point for cross-country air travellers.
Under an memorandum of understanding approved Tuesday, the City of Lethbridge is putting up $200,000 per year, and the County of Lethbridge is chipping in $50,000 annually in a joint effort to enhance air service and promote associated land development at the Lethbridge County Airport. Since the late 1980s, air passenger traffic at the airport has plummeted from more than 120,000 a year to roughly 55,000 a year.
“This is clearly one instance where we have a shared vision,” said Lethbridge Mayor Bob Tarleck.
“It’s important for the County of Lethbridge to turn around the decline in ridership out of the airport, but the city has the same sort of vested interest. With 85,000 people, there’s no doubt that we’re the major regional beneficiary,” he said.
One of the objectives, he said, will be to investigate the potential of developing routes between major centres such as Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto with smaller or intermediate-sized carriers who would make connections in Lethbridge.
Under the agreement a joint, six-member steering committee with three elected officials from each council, is to be established to oversee the initiative.
“To make the airport more viable, we need these things to happen,” said county Reeve Lorne Hickey. “Together, we can accomplish a lot more.”
The committee is to meet quarterly — and probably more often at the outset — and its first priority will be to hire an airport enhancement director by January to lead the initiative.
For the past three years, the county has been working with Economic Development Lethbridge — the city’s marketing arm — to evaluate the airport and identify potential ways to enhance and expand the air services it provides.
In a presentation at city hall to both councils, Cheryl Dyck noted a marketing study which indicated 85 per cent of passengers flying into Calgary are travelling east or west and are stopping only to catch connecting flights.
One key opportunity, she said, may be developing a similar market niche by targeting intermediate-sized carriers who are introducing smaller, 90-seat passenger jets about offering similar east-west flights and connections through Lethbridge.
“To have somebody focused on telling that story and finding out how we could make it work will be a lot easier than just trying to one-off it here and there,” she said afterward. “We have to define what the right thing is for our airport and then we have to go for it and not be sitting back waiting for it to come to us.”
Other potential opportunities include establishing a local training facility for commercial pilots who are required by airlines to receive ongoing training, attracting smaller air cargo carriers, and exploring the possibility of attracting American travellers flying to and from Alaska to use Lethbridge as a stopover point.
Brent Gateman, owner of Lethbridge-based Integra Air, said the initiative is crucial and long overdue.
“I’ve been after both the county and EDL for a long time to get this going, and it’s great to finally see it actually taking shape and getting moving,” he said.
“In 1988, we saw the (air) traffic out here at 122,000 people a year. In 2006, it was down to 56,000,” he said, noting marketing plans should target not only airlines but also the local market which under utilizes air travel from Lethbridge.
“That 122,000 we saw 30 years ago should now be a quarter million.”
“It is a worthwhile investment, but it is a long, long-term investment. This three-year initiative is going to be a start, but it’s not going to be the whole thing. It’s going to take 20 years to see some true movement, some true results out of the investment,” he said. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”
In recent years, city officials and Gateman have waged a losing battle to have continued access the downtown airport in Edmonton. Failure to invest in this marketing initiative could prove very costly to the city and region in lost opportunities to have industries and business sectors set up operations in southern Alberta, Tarleck said.
“The cost of doing nothing is frightening. We don’t have an alternative,” he said. “If we can make a small dent with this, we’ll more than pay our way back.”

..

Posted by

lethbridge real estate

lethbridge realtor

Robert W May is a Real Estate Broker in Lethbridge Alberta, having now been in the industry for over 23 years. . He was also a licensed Lethbridge mortgage broker and financing expert with Canada First Mortgage of Calgary Alberta for the past 10 years.  He is an industry leader always willing to help train and educate others in how to improve their business models for financial and personal benefit.




 

 

Comments (0)