A new group calling itself Friends of the Westlock Airport has formed and its mission is improving facilities at the region’s aerodrome.
Lead by vice-president of business development for Synergy Aviation, Paul Stubbs, the group plans to bring together the airport’s different stakeholders and get everyone flying in the same direction.
“There’s about 25 people so far that have signed up to be members of this new Friends of the Westlock Airport,” Stubbs said.
“It’s all taxpayers, it’s people that use the airport, it’s the houses on the north side of the airport.
“It’s a bunch of people who want to see that airport go forward and progress and have more business come in and more airplanes, and make it into the next Cooking Lake, or Wetaskiwin because currently it’s not.”
Westlock Airport is jointly owned by the Town of Westlock and Westlock County and relies on both to agree on plans before funding can be sought and development undertaken.
Last month the municipalities jointly applied for millions of dollars worth of upgrades through the Small Communities Fund Program (SCFP) for the airport, but the application failed as it doesn’t handle passenger flights.
Some of the work outlined in the SCFP application, like improvements to the taxiways and runways, align with the group’s aims.
“Right now there’s no IFR, instrument flight rule, approach. We’d like to see an approach, get the taxiways fixed up and see it develop to where there’s maybe 50 or 60 hangers out there,” Stubbs said.
Synergy Aviation, which provides support to energy industry infrastructure, recently completed construction of a large hanger that houses six airplanes and helicopters.
Stubbs said his business would like expand and knows of others that want to start using the airport, but feels its current condition is holding development back.
“I’m to the point already where I’m looking at another hanger,” he said. “We’re looking to go from five or six aircraft ourself to 10 or 12 this time next year.”
“If we had an IFR approach we could come and go at night and in bad weather.”
Stubbs is seeking a consensus-focused approach moving forward and thinks his experience of town life, and politics, can help achieve that.
He’s also not fazed by the history of the two municipalities not seeing eye-to-eye on joint development all the time.
“I think they will get behind it,” Stubbs said.
“I think it’s just going to take a bit of time and cooperation and some meetings back and forth.”
