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Originally Posted by MonctonRad
Agreed. I appreciate EnvisionSaintJohns enthusiasm, but, I remain unconvinced that a single NB airport would improve our plight much.
In particular, I can't see much enthusiasm for this enterprise from greater Moncton.
A combo Freddy/SJ airport makes a little more sense given the proximity of the two cities, but, again, you're talking about a billion dollar investment (at least), and left with the question of what to do with the existing airports. He keeps talking about turning them into air cargo facilities, but, YQM and YHZ already occupy this niche. How many air cargo facilities do we need?
Proximity of an airport to your bed counts a lot. I really appreciate that if I get back to Moncton at midnight on a redeye flight, there is a good chance I will be in my bed 30 minutes later. I would be considerably less happy in a similar scenario confronted by a 45 minute drive from Sussex (potentially through a blizzard).
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Heads up, my preferred pronoun is they, thanks!
I don’t think a one airport solution is preferable at all. Two airports for the three major cities is preferable to the current situation.
As for the viability of turning YFC and YSJ into cargo focussed airports, if the province’s population is going to grow anywhere close to the 2050 numbers you’ve speculated in the stats thread, there’s definitely room to increase our air cargo capacity through other airports than YQM.
As I understood YFC already has significant cargo capacity at the moment, and YSJ has plans to increase their cargo capacity. Combined with the intermodal logistics facility in West Saint John and the rapid growth of Port Saint John, it’s really not much of a stretch for YSJ to transition to a cargo focus one day. Even if it were simply transitioned to become a general aviation / charter flight airport, it would still make the investment in a combined Fredericton/Saint John airport well worth it in the long term.
Interested where you get this at least a billion figure from. It doesn’t seem far off, but what are you basing that off? Regardless, the potential economic benefit would still far exceed this initial investment in the long run, as it would spur urban development north of Saint John and south of Fredericton, and get Fredericton and Saint John closer to being considered one single FUA.