Council tackles airport issues

By Dan Hilborn
Published June 7, 2006


Officials from Vancouver International Airport outlined their ambitious 20-year expansion plan at Burnaby city council on May 29 and got a little advice on how they could do things better.

While council was generally happy with the the airport's plans to enlarge its facility to accommodate the 21 million passengers per year who are expected to arrive by the 2010 Olympics, there were concerns raised about the public consultation process and a possible new runway that might be built out over the water.

Coun. Dan Johnston triggered the questions when he asked whether another expansion of the airport might force people to look for alternative locations to board an airplane, such as the Bellingham or Abbotsford airports.

"I know people who go to Bellingham to get on a plane because there, they can get right on the plane," said Johnston, who suggested that a new people-moving device might reduce the "half-hour walk" that some travellers have to endure when they board a plane at the most northwestern corner of the terminal.

Johnston's comments came after Bob Cowan, the senior vice-president of engineering for YVR, said the airport is expanding to accommodate the expected arrival of the new Airbus A380 airplane, the largest passenger jet ever built.

The airport is currently building a new international wing that will see five new terminal gates opened in 2007 and another five gates opened prior to 2010, Cowan said.

The expansion deserves support because of the economic benefits it brings to the Lower Mainland, he said. The airport is home to a total 26,700 jobs that pay $1.1 billion in direct wages annually, generating $680 million in tax revenue and an estimated $6.8 billion in "direct output" each year.

Anne Murray, the airport's vice-president of community and environmental affairs, said YVR has already held more than 120 meetings to discuss its proposed master plan for the years 2007 to 2027, and the new runway is the most contentious part of the proposal.

While the foreshore runway would impact local wildlife and the environment, it is supported by area residents who are concerned about airplane noise. The second option is a new southern runway that has fewer environmental impacts but is not supported by the neighbours, she said.

And while Murray encouraged people to visit the airport's website - www.yvr.ca - to see the plans themselves, that triggered a flurry of complaints that both the website and the airport's newest annual report are just too difficult to read.

Coun. Sav Dhaliwal said the use of small type and coloured lettering on paper of the same colour made the airport's report almost impossible to read. Mayor Derek Corrigan made similar complaints about the airport's website.

But YVR also received several compliments. Coun. Nick Volkow applauded the airport authority for continuing to offer free baggage carts to travellers, while Coun. Colleen Jordan noted that the security precautions at YVR are less onerous than those at airports in the United States.