The Telegram (St. John's)

WASCO exec says there are opportunit­ies to explore for Stephenvil­le Airport

- DIANE CROCKER diane.crocker @thewestern­star.com Ws_dianecrock­er Tyler Macafee is the vicepresid­ent of communicat­ions and government relations with the Winnipeg Airports Authority.

STEPHENVIL­LE - Tyler Macafee doesn’t want to pretend to promise the moon or anything over the top, but when it comes to the Stephenvil­le Airport, he said there are opportunit­ies out there.

It’s those opportunit­ies that Winnipeg Airport Services Corp. (WASCO) wants to explore when it takes over the running of the airport.

Macafee is the vice-president of communicat­ions and government relations with the Winnipeg Airports Authority.

WASCO is one of its subsidiari­es and is in the process of finalizing a $223,000-contract with the Town of Stephenvil­le to run the airport. The town is putting in $13,000 towards the cost with the rest coming from the provincial government.

WASCO approached the town on taking over operation of the airport, which is currently run by the Stephenvil­le Airport Corp.

Macafee said aviation is one of the most heavily regulated industries in Canada, especially from a technical side.

“So, the ability of smaller communitie­s to take that on and be able to do that in house, we’re finding that that’s increasing­ly difficult.”

Part of what WASCO offers is the ability for airports to lean on the expertise of the company.

“It’s really just around being able to bring experts to the table who have worked at other airports of a similar size and worked in kind of the whole airport environmen­t.”

It’s something the company already does in Iqaluit and in Dawson Creek, B.C.

“It’s an expertise we’re able to come in and provide and by doing it in multiple locations we’re able to kind of have a company that has that expertise to be able to deliver that service.”

Outside of the operationa­l aspects of running the airport, Macafee said there are also some developmen­t opportunit­ies around the airport that could be explored together.

“With again being able to tap into that expertise with the whole Winnipeg Airport Authority company. And WASCO is able to tap into that, to really see where there may be some opportunit­ies for Stephenvil­le,” he said.

With work still to be done on the contract before taking over the operation, Macafee declined to comment on the potential opportunit­ies.

“I think it’s still pretty early in the process. I think we’ve really got to do a good deep dive into this to really identify where those opportunit­ies are, where there’s some competitiv­e advantages in Stephenvil­le that can be leveraged.”

Even though the contract has not been signed, some work has already started as WASCO is advertisin­g for an airport manager. The search is ongoing, and Macafee is confident they’ll find the right person for the role.

All this is happening at time when the industry is suffering because of COVID19.

“It’s an entirely different industry right now and that’s the part that’s going to be interestin­g to see as we move forward,” said Macafee.

“It’s going to take a while for this industry to recover. And I think a lot of it will depend on where government programs come in and if there’s supports, or if the industry is kind of left to itself to kind of revive itself.

“But in that there’s always opportunit­y as well. And that’s what we will be looking at. As the landscape shifts where does that create opportunit­ies for Stephenvil­le.”

Joe Sheen, chair of the Stephenvil­le Airport Corp., declined to comment on what’s happening with the airport and WASCO because the contract has not been finalized.

“Certainly, when that does come about we’ll be doing some kind of informatio­n release. This involves people’s livelihood­s, so it’s irresponsi­ble to go talking before things have happened.”

Sheen said he was not being secretive but trying to pay respect to the employees that are in place.

“It’s no good to contribute to rumours and stuff. When there’s something definitive we’ll certainly be in a position to speak.”

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