 | Home page |  | Text size |  | E-mail this page |
Expansion on time and on budget Upgrades to airport in Rankin Inlet mean big improvements
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, June 19, 2013
RANKIN INLET
The $27-million expansion project at the Rankin Inlet airport is, so far, proceeding under budget and on time, says the director of Nunavut Airports.
Director of Nunavut Airports Shawn Maley said there will be no problem with congestion when upgrades at the Rankin Inlet airport are completed. - NNSL file photo |
Shawn Maley said he's pleased with how the project has proceeded since work began this past year.
He said the Phase 1 site work - gravel, insulation and preparing for paving - will be completed this season.
"The second piece, or phase, is electrical and the tender was awarded to Kudlik Construction this past month," said Maley.
"The paving, which is the final piece, went out for tender on June 7.
"Our hope and expectation is to have the electrical work done around the
apron and the paving completed this year."
Maley said when the $27-million project is completed in the coming year, Rankin's airport will have almost tripled its ramp space, will have a dedicated area for helicopter landing and a new taxiway.
He said Rankin doesn't have push-back equipment like you'd find at a typical southern airport, so enough room has to be left for jets to turn, and that eats up a huge amount of space.
"Once we have the new taxiway, we'll be able to flow traffic through and save a very sizeable amount of room.
"We'll have new LED lighting, and we'll have approach lights on the 31 approach.
"Right now, the approach lights are on the wrong end of the runway because they were put in by the military for the F-18s (supersonic fighter jets).
"F-18s don't care about landing in wind, only about getting off the runway, so the lights are on the non-prevailing-winds end of things."
Maley said the more you can increase a pilot's ability to see the runway environment, the better chance he has of landing his aircraft.
He said when an approaching plane reaches its minimum height, the pilot either sees the runway or the plane is gone.
"We're still operating with bad congestion periods at the airport from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m., noon until 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.
"We won't have any problems with congestion at all once the work is finished.
"And, once completed, the project will also provide us with more space for air-side business like hangars, and we already have one proposal in from Sakku First Aviation for hangar space.
"After the next tender, if there's money left in the kitty, we'll also be seeking approval to expand our terminal building."
| 
