The District of Sechelt is currently preparing a budget to extend the runway at the airport to 4,000 ft., allowing for scheduled flights to Wilson Creek.
The runway currently sits at 2,400 ft. at the Wilson Creek airport allowing for chartered flights of small planes. It is mostly used by recreational pilots at the moment.
The extension of the runway would allow for larger planes, carrying up to 40 passengers each, and the ability to licence the airport, which would allow for scheduled flights to the Sunshine Coast.
"For example, about six times a day there are flights from Powell River to Vancouver with Pacific Coastal Airlines. If we had the runway extended to 4,000 ft., those flights would be able to stop in here and pick up passengers on their way to Vancouver," Doug Chapman, the director of finance who is compiling the budget for the airport expansion, said this week.
Chapman notes the expansion would have other benefits for the District, including the possibility of aircraft-related businesses locating at the airport and the attraction to business people with their own planes for travel. Those business people could either relocate to the Coast and fly out on business or pay to store their planes in hangers in Wilson Creek.
In order to extend the runway, the District would need to carve out some of the hillside at the airport, which could include blasting if hard rock is found beneath the ground. They are currently talking with Construction Aggregates Ltd. to do some test drilling at the site.
The cost to extend the runway could be anywhere from $2 to $5 million, depending on who does the work, who supplies the machinery and whether blasting is needed.
Currently Chapman is looking into different options and their costs. Coun. Mike Shanks, chair of the airport strategic planning committee, said volunteer labour may be an option. Chapman is sourcing out costs to provide excavators to the potential workers either by leasing the machinery or purchasing it, as well as costs associated with contracting workers and machinery to do the job.
The different options drive the cost up and how it will all be paid for in the end is yet to be decided by council.
Currently there is about $60,000 set aside for the expansion. Chapman says the District could borrow the rest of the money needed or pay for it through taxation in the future.
He expects the work won't be done at the airport any time soon.
"My guess is three or four years down the road," he noted.
A report on potential costs of the expansion is expected to be before council in early May. More public consultation will take place before final decisions are made.
Ultimately the District would like to widen the runway as well from 75 to 100 ft. and install a GPS system and night lighting to allow for flights until about 7:30 p.m.
