MP Cathy McLeod
(DANA REYNOLDS / iNFOnews.ca)
May 22, 2015 - 10:34 AM
KAMLOOPS – Fulton Field will receive more than $4 million in federal funding to help upgrade the runways this year.
Local Member of Parliament Cathy McLeod joined Mayor Peter Milobar and other delegates at the airport today, May 22, to announce a federal pledge of $4.4 million.
These funds are 55 per cent of what is needed to rehabilitate the landing strip and replace two snow removal vehicles.
Expected to commence during the final two weeks of June, the runway project is three-fold. A total of 600 feet of the original runway, pre-expansion, will be completed first followed by 4,000 feet of runway on the eastern end. This second phase will be done half during operating hours and half while the airport is closed at night. The last ‘middle’ section of the runway will be done is small sections also during the evening when the airport is closed.
“It’s like changing landing gear while the aircraft is in flight,” Managing Director of the Kamloops Airport Fred Legace says of the runway construction.
Spreading out the improvements and doing them while the airport is closed will allow the airport to continue operations. It was noted that without the 2008 expansion the airport would likely have had to close for a significant amount of time for these improvements.
This funding, provided by the Airport Capital Assistance program, has provided Kamloops with more than $8 million in funding to date. In making these improvements the airport hopes to encourage more carriers to add Kamloops routes.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015