Transportation upgrades in northeast B.C. go beyond highways and bridges: the Northern Rockies Regional Airport (NRRA) in Fort Nelson is about to undergo a $4.3 million makeover.
Backed with federal government funding, the airport will upgrade and extend its runways as it prepares to handle increased traffic into the northeast gas fields.
Eric Desnoyers, the airport’s business manager, said Fort Nelson is the major airport for gas field workers, who often wing in on chartered 737 jets. This year such charters brought about 35,000 workers through the airport, with the same number of passengers on daily scheduled flights that link through to Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
But Desnoyers said it can get much busier, very fast. In the summer of 2012, for instance, the NRRA handled more air traffic than any other Tier 2 airport in Canada, including Fort St. John, Prince George and Ottawa, according to NAV Canada. More than 120,000 passengers came through the NRRA that year.
Desnoyers said it is only prudent to get ready for an expected influx of workers as decisions on major liquefied natural gas plants edge closer.
“The expansion will allow us to handle larger planes and more of them,” Desnoyers said, noting a terminal upgrade is also planned. “Our thinking is ‘let’s do all the work we can do now so we will be ready when they pull the trigger.’” •
