By Chad Klassen

Kamloops Airport receives funding for upgrades

Jun 27, 2016 | 12:52 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops Airport is getting a boost, the recipient of $2.6 million dollars to upgrade the airport apron.

The Transportation Ministry made the announcement on Monday morning at Fulton Field, unveiling plans to refurbish the area of the airport where aircraft load, unload, and refuel, accomodating more traffic to come through YKA.

The airport will be on the hook for the remaining $800,000 for the project, which is expected to be finished by next spring. 

“We’re going to make some room for more aircraft to operate,” says YKA manager Fred Legace. “A lot more of the Medivac flight operations happening out of here. That’s getting to be more and more, as we see with the expansion of the rotary wing one that’s covering more of the smaller communities. This gives people really quick access to advanced medical care.”

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The funding is coming from the B.C. Air Access program, helping communities upgrade much-needed airport infrastructure like this.

“I always believed that a growing, thriving airport is a critical component of a growing economy in a community that’s fortunate enough to have an airport,” says Transportation Minister Todd Stone. 

The Kamloops Airport has been major growth in the past decade. 

“Since 2004, an 80% increase in the number of travellers going through this airport. That’s incredible,” says Stone. “It’s important to the mining sector, forestry, the tourism sector, and even the university.”