Around this time next year, the airport will look a lot different.
President and CEO of the Fort McMurray Airport Authority Scott Clements updated the Chamber of Commerce on the progress of the expansion yesterday.
Clements said that while the city has pitched in significant resources, they still need to close the money gap.
“We need some help for the airport,” he said.
“So we have a partnership proposal on the civil works pertaining to the new development of $100 million.”
Clements says half of that money has come from the airport and the city, and wants the other half to be split between the Province and the feds.
A related unsolved issue is the connecting road from the new site back to highway 69, an issue Clements says they’d need to have done by October.
But Clements joked he thinks there’s a good reason it will get finished in time.
“Can you imagine the Premier standing at the opening next year with 100 yards of gravel to highway 69?,” he said.
“I can’t – need I say more?”
The city will host an airshow with its finished facility from May 30 to June 1 2014.
The site will also feature a 4-star hotel, which Clements says won’t be up and running until 2015 at the earliest.
He’s been with the airport for three and a half years, and says the growth of industry and the need for infrastructure is unprecedented.
“Fort McMurray is unique, absolutely. Have I seen it before? Not on this scale,” he said.
“This is the largest industrial project in world history, so there has been no equivalent to it. That’s what makes it so exciting.”
