New emergency service could mean more revenue at Iqaluit airport
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Feb 19/01) - Air safety in Iqaluit is now even safer thanks to an emergency response service.
A fire crew used to be at the airport but was shut down in 1997.
"It was basically shut down by the former government as a cost saving measure," said airport manager John Graham.
All Nunavut airports are required to have on-site emergency services in place by 2004.
The new crew consists of fire chief Mike O'Gormen, and three firefighters. Three more firefighters will also be hired.
"The bottom line right now is we want to make the (airport) fire department self-sufficient," he said, adding that annual operation costs are estimated at over a half-million.
Besides safety, the new service could translate into government revenue, as more international flights can now land at the Iqaluit airport.
Some airline companies, depending on their country's aviation regulations, can only land at airports that have emergency service available.
"We have been marketing ourselves to all major airlines around the world and have had pretty good response back," O'Gormen said. "If we are here on their behalf there would be a charge involved."
Graham said he is very happy to have the service operating again.
"They have state of the art equipment and can basically deal with any kind of aviation accident."
"Living around here you can notice there are planes here morning, noon and night," he said.
