Alberta’s air fleet put up for sale
Controversial planes carry $11M price tag
CALGARY — Alberta’s government aircraft helped cost Alison Redford her job as premier. Now, they could cost somebody else at least $11 million — the province’s newly listed sale price for the politically fraught planes.
One of Premier Jim Prentice’s first acts on taking office in September was a promise to sell the aircraft, after the Redford cabinet landed in controversy for abusing its access to the executive fleet.
Eldon McIlwain, press secretary to Service Alberta Minister Stephen Khan, said that while Prentice ended their use by elected officials on Sept. 16, members of the civil service continued to board the planes for government business until they were grounded Dec. 5 and declared surplus.
The planes were put to tender on the government’s purchasing website last Friday, a week later, but McIlwain said there have already been expressions of interest.
“They’re very good aircraft,” he said in an interview Friday.
The big-ticket item is a 36-seat 1985 DeHavilland Dash 8, with a reserve price of $5.5 million. There are also two 2006 Beechcraft King Air B200s, at a cost of $2 million each, and a 1997 Beechcraft King Air 350 with a reserve price of $1.5 million.
Bids for the planes need to be in to the government by Feb. 24, 2015.
McIlwain said the planes were appraised to set the price. The government is confident that it will achieve the reserve price, but will reevaluate if the process closes without a high enough bid, he said.
Alberta’s Air Transportation Service operated the four-plane fleet at a cost of roughly $9.3 million annually.
Liberal MLA Kent Hehr welcomed what he called an end to a dark chapter in Alberta’s political history. He said the Progressive Conservatives have long used the government fleet “as their own personal fiefdom,” at the expense of taxpayers.
“Hopefully with the sale of planes they can cover themselves accordingly and learn to travel like the rest of us do on commercial planes,” Hehr said.
The government fleet has been controversial for years, with former premier Ralph Klein in particular attracting heat.
But the criticism reached a fever pitch under Redford, who resigned as premier in March.
In August, auditor general Merwan Saher issued a scathing report detailing myriad abuses of the provincial fleet, saying Redford used the planes to attend partisan events and derived a personal benefit by taking her daughter on flights.
The report also showed government flights cost nearly $4 million more in 2012 than commercial options.
“They’re very good aircraft.” ELDON MCILWAIN, SERVICE ALBERTA SPOKESMAN
“Clearly this has been a major issue in our province for some time. It was something I heard loud and clear about from Albertans through the entirety of the summer,” Prentice said in September.
Cabinet ministers are now expected to drive or fly commercial or use charter flights if necessary.
Wildrose finance critic Rob Anderson lauded the change, saying it was something the Opposition had been seeking for a “long, long time.”
“The whole point of the Wildrose is to get good government, and when the government does good things, that’s something that we’re going to applaud every time,” Anderson said.