Yellowknife (Nov 10/04) - The territorial government says they have no choice but go ahead with expensive renovations at the Yellowknife airport, despite projections that show the city may need a new terminal building within 10-15 years.

Marvin Ringham, manager of airports building and planning with the Department of Transportation, said a block of cheese is just as likely to trigger alarm bells as a package of plastic explosives hidden in someone's luggage.

"It's almost impossible to determine through the X-ray machine whether a piece of cheese is a plastic bomb or not," said Ringham.

Frozen foods, including packages of caribou roasts and Arctic char, could also be problematic, said Ringham.

In 2002, the federal government created a brand new agency called the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks the year before.

Right now, when a passenger checks in, their luggage is put on a short conveyor belt that leads to a small room behind the ticket counter. The baggage is then loaded onto a luggage cart and brought to the airplane outside.

The stricter federal rules means that will all change by Jan.1, 2006.

By then, Yellowknife's airport will be equipped with a complex array of conveyor belts and X-ray machines where the ticket counters presently stand.

Luggage will pass through the first X-ray machine, where Ringham said about 20 per cent of all luggage will fail inspection. An operator will then send those pieces of luggage through a more sophisticated X-ray device called a CTX machine, where it is scanned again -- this time by looking at it from several different angles.

If the suspicious piece of luggage fails that screening, its owner will be summoned to the "reconciliation" area near the front of the terminal building, where the bag will be opened and searched, said Ringham.

"If there actually is a bomb in it or whatever, it will be evacuated and will be taken out of the building," said Ringham.

The territorial government expects the total cost of renovations to ring in at $11.2 million. Part of the money -- the $4.6 million for the equipment -- will come from CATSA. The GNWT will have to cover the rest, likely through some sort of user fee to passengers.

Aging building

One option considered would have cost the GNWT only $1.3 million, but Ringham said it would mean having to build another airport in four to six years.

"It's an old building," said Ringham. "It's virtually at the end of its design capacity."

The airport, he said, is practically bursting at the seams. The number of passengers has increased from 192,000 in 1988 to 320,000 last year.

Ringham said because of budget constraints, the government decided to expand the existing airport and wait to build another one.

The territorial government estimates a new airport on the west side of the main runway would cost $40- 50 million.

The expansion will include a larger departure lounge with washrooms, an additional baggage carousel and a new food court.

Ringham said passengers leaving Yellowknife can expect plenty of frustration and delays next year as the government hurries to meet their deadline.

"You cannot do all these major renovations without disturbing the people inside the building," he said.

"The next year is going to be a challenge for the passengers, for the operators, everybody, because essentially we're going to go through this building and tear it apart."

Gary Reid, vice-president of customer services for Canadian North Airlines, said the company's main concern with the increased security is the inconvenience to Northern travellers coming from smaller communities. "We'll have to strip the airplane of all its luggage, which is time consuming and expensive," said Reid.

"I don't believe it's right for our Northern customers who are outside the Yellowknife market to go through that."

CATSA, meanwhile, says they are confident the new equipment will work.

"We wouldn't be deploying equipment if it's sole purpose was to detect a block of cheese," said CATSA spokesperson Renee Fairweather.