Mayor Richard Ireland met with other mayors in the region last week to discuss the next steps toward landing commercial flights at the Edson airport.
In July, the airport was designated by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) to receive security screening services鈥揳 key requirement to become a fully functioning commercial airport.
According to Ireland, at last week鈥檚 meeting there was a general consensus that the 2012 airport feasibility study and business plan needs to be updated to better reflect current economic conditions in order to attract an airline to use the airport.
鈥淧eople are still keen on the project, but we know that in order to entice a carrier we are going to have to make sure we have the proper case to present and that means updating the material we have to make it relevant to today鈥檚 economic reality,鈥� said Ireland.
He said the group directed consultants to determine how much it would cost to update the feasibility study and the business case.
The 2012 feasibility study conducted by InterVISTAS cost $40,000 and was funded by Tourism Jasper, Yellowhead County, Edson, Hinton and Jasper.
Once the costs are known for the updated studies, the group will then have to decide how they are going to pay for them.
鈥淲e鈥檝e already talked about applying for a regional collaboration grant,鈥� said Ireland, adding they will first have to look at the province鈥檚 recently passed budget to decide if that鈥檚 still a possibility.
In addition to updating the studies, Ireland said the group also recognized that it will have to engage with new partners at both the provincial and federal levels, since recent elections have brought in two new governments.
There were no representatives from the province or the federal government at the meeting.
In July, Doug Goss, board chair of Tourism Jasper, estimated that it would cost between $5 and $6 million to get the airport up and running.
Edson鈥檚 airport is one of 10 other airports across the country that received the CATSA designation in July.
Ireland said it鈥檚 too soon to speculate about when the airport might open, but in a previous interview he said when it does he expects 10 to 20 per cent of passengers will be headed to Jasper.
Paul Clarke [email protected]
