I agree that the Saint John Airport is in no jeopardy.
nwalbert is correct that the airport authority is just trying to bring attention to their situation so that other revenue streams, such as an airport industrial park can be added to the facility.
While a single central airport for NB seems to make sense, the cost of such a facility would likely be close to a billion dollars and would create economic dislocation to all three major cities. The GMIA alone contributes $380M to the local economy in Greater Moncton. Add to this the need to improve transportation infrastructure to a proposed central airport (especially from Fredericton) and I think such a project becomes truly untenable.
I
do think that serious consideration should be given to closing the small northern airports in Miramichi, Bathurst and Charlo. Service to these facilities is spotty at best and sometimes non-existent. The monies saved could be reinvested elsewhere.
I also think that there could be some type of overarching
NB Airport Authority, charged with making the current system as efficient as possible. Of course all three airports should maintain important routes to places like Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, but a provincial authority could help in distributing other routes equitably between all three facilities for the benefit of all.
For example:
- the GMIA could be given routes to New York, Paris and Calgary.
- the Saint John Airport could recieve routes to Boston, Chicago and Vancouver
- the Fredericton Airport could maintain routes to London, Atlanta and Edmonton.
You get the idea......
This way, duplication could be avoided, infrastructure costs would be minimized and the NB populace would benefit by having better route selection!
Win, win, win
Thoughts?