Certification of Yarmouth airport changed
Finding themselves in a catch-22 situation — and a very expensive one at that — the municipal units that operate the Yarmouth airport have decided to voluntarily change the facility’s certification.
Changing the certification from 302 to 301 means the airport can operate as it does now with one major exception — it can’t have scheduled passenger air service.
Another notable difference is operating costs for the airport would be a lot less.
The town and municipality of Yarmouth and the Municipality of Argyle have all decided this is the way to proceed.
A July audit carried out by Transport Canada found major deficiencies on main runway 06-24, meaning the runway does not meet the requirements of 302 certification. Therefore the units were going to be pressed by Transport Canada to make these repairs sooner rather than later. In other words, within months as opposed to years. If the units didn’t meet timelines set out by Transport Canada, it could have forced the airport to surrender its certification or face fines of $5,000 per incident.
The airport will look to develop a long-term plan for the runway repairs. The municipal units will also consider the advice of the airport manager to close the runway until repairs can be made. A second runway would remain operational.
The needed runway rehabilitation could run between $3 million and $6 million. There is federal funding available for such upgrades through the Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP).
And therein lies the catch-22.
“If you have scheduled passenger service for three years and you carry 1,000 passengers for each of those years, you can then apply to the ACAP program,” explained CAO Jeff Gushue at Yarmouth town council’s Aug. 10 meeting. But you have to be 302 certified. “The problem is, we won’t be 302 certified until we spend money on the exact things that you would get the ACAP money for.”
“We can’t have a passenger air service without doing the upgrades,” Gushue added. “And we can’t get anyone else’s funding for the upgrades unless we have passenger service for three years.”