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IQALUIT
Travellers can expect to see a lager passenger screening area with washrooms, pick-up and drop-off lanes as well as new runway pavement are some of the features of Iqaluit's future airport.

The territorial government has started the process to modernize Iqaluit's airport. Once construction is finished in five years, passengers will no longer transit through the current yellow terminal building. - Jeanne Gagnon/NNSL photo

The territorial government issued a request for qualifications on June 29 to design, build, finance, maintain and operate a proposed new Iqaluit International Airport.

The project, titled the Iqaluit International Airport Improvement Project, includes building a new terminal building of approximately 9,000 square metres, featuring a larger passenger screening area, more washrooms, and restaurant and gift shop, said John Hawkins, airport manager. He added the new facility will be designed incase the building needs to be expanded – which could be done with passenger bridges.

The current cost estimate for the project ranges from $250 million to $300 million, according to Paul Mulak, director of program management with the Department of Community and Government Services.

A new lighting system, expanded aprons for planes to park, upgraded runway including new pavement, and a new parking area with pick-up and drop-off lanes are some of the other features of the project.

A new combined services building of approximately 4,500 square metres to house the firefighting vehicles and heavy equipment to maintain the runways and aprons is also part of the project.

Hawkins said the government wants to modernize the airport as the current one was built in 1985 when passenger screening was simpler and no luggage was screened. The building was designed to handle a smaller number of turbo prop operations and one jet, he added.

"It's extremely congested and that's the public face of the building. But there is also the same kind of congestion out on the airside. We see too many aircraft, too many vehicles, too many passengers all mixing in a very small area," said Hawkins.

All the turbo prop operations are spread from one end of the airport to the other, he added, meaning they need to bus passengers to and from the terminal.

"It's all controllable but it's all controllable with compromise and we can't compromise safety, obviously, so the compromise is in the efficiency and in the operation," said Hawkins.

The capacity of the new air terminal building will be almost quadruple what it is now, he added.

More than 120,000 passengers annually transit through the Iqaluit airport, which handles in excess of 30 per cent of all aircraft activity in Nunavut.

"What we want to do … is consolidate all those operations into a much more compact space where all that operation can occur and where passengers can move through the whole building with some certain amount of comfort," said Hawkins.

The control tower will stay in the existing terminal building, as will the governmental airport administration offices. The main floor will be eventually renovated as well, he added.

Interested groups, companies and consortiums have until Aug. 15 to express their interest in and submit qualifications for the project. This is the first stage of the selection process. Up to three shortlisted companies will then be invited to submit proposals to design, build, finance, maintain and operate the new facilities for 30 years. The winning bidder is expected to run the airport during construction, according to the request for qualifications. The territorial government would like construction to start in 2014 with completion slated for 2017.

"We're optimistic Inuit companies will want to become involved in some way working with the proponent," said Robert Long, deputy minister of Economic Development and Transportation. "We're encouraging them to make connections with Inuit-owned businesses in Nunavut to provide part of the services as a sub-contract to them."

This will be the territorial government's inaugural public-private partnership project, with public contribution expected to be 40 to 50 per cent of the capital costs.

"Don't think of this as building an airport building and new terminal. This is a new airport," said Long."It is a significant project."

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