Expanded airport finally complete

Murray Mitchell/The Daily News

Making it official, dignitaries cut a ribbon to celebrate the completion of terminal renovations and runway expansion at the Kamloops Airport Friday. From left is Kamloops Indian Band Chief Shane Gottfriedson, mayor Peter Milobar, Kamloops Airport Authority Society president John O'Fee, MP Cathy McLeod, MLA Terry Lake and YVR Airport Services president George Casey.

StoryIt was so long in the making that many of those in office when the airport expansion was first discussed have moved on to other things.

But on Friday, many of those present to cut the ribbon on the $25-million airport terminal renovation and runway expansion project acknowledged those who began the process years ago.

One of the few consistent figures on the expansion project was John O’Fee, president of the Kamloops Airport Authority Society.

Acting as emcee at Friday’s official opening ceremony, he noted that three mayors, two members of parliament and at least three MLAs have come and gone since the project’s inception.

Mayor Peter Milobar, who has followed on the work done by his predecessors Mel Rothenburger and Terry Lake, congratulated O’Fee for all his work in seeing the airport expansion to fruition.

“This is truly a regional airport,” he said.

“It’s a great day. It’s great to see it finally built.”

His favourite feature of all the renovations is the fact there are now washrooms in the secure holding area.

“It took $25 million, but we got washrooms on the other side of security,” Milobar quipped.

Lake, who is now MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson, said his colleague Kevin Krueger wanted to be present, too, but had another obligation.

Lake said O’Fee was like a dog with a bone, sticking with the project despite the obstacles that came up.

He noted that the province was the first to ante up for the expansion project, committing $4 million in March, 2006.

Ottawa responded in July, 2007 with $6 million.

MP Cathy McLeod wasn’t in office when that announcement was made. Instead, MP Betty Hinton had the honour at the time.

But McLeod said she has heard from her colleagues in Ottawa that Hinton was relentless in pushing the project forward.

The more flights available in and out of Kamloops, the more spinoffs that will come in terms of jobs and diversity for the community, she said.

“I know this airport’s so important,” said McLeod.

YVR Airport Services president George Casey described the building as spectacular and said more than 270 people have been involved in the renovations.

It was a complicated project, as construction and design work had to be done simultaneously to meet budget and deadlines, he said.

“At times, crews worked 24/7,” he said.

The terminal and runway are already proving their merit by being a big factor in WestJet coming to Kamloops.

“It’s part of the passengers’ experience. It’s the front door,” he said.

"It’s the first thing the passenger sees and it’s the last thing they see.”

On top of that, this is one of the few airports in the world that’s seeing an increase in traffic year over year, Casey said.

“It just shows the region was under served.”

The revamped terminal building has a strong First Nations presence, with two petroglyphs and a Secwepemc prayer greeting passengers arriving in the baggage areas.

Still to come are a dugout canoe and a traditional native fish trap — each will be suspended over one of the two carousels.

Kamloops Indian Band Chief Shane Gottfriedson said the airport is important to the success of the regional economy.

“I see opportunities for our people in developing our economy together,” he said.

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