The Boundary Bay Airshow will be back this summer.
Council last week endorsed a staff recommendation to approve Alpha Aviation’s request to host the airshow that will be held on July 22.
After a two-hiatus due to the pandemic, the show at the Boundary Bay Airport made a comeback last year.
The airshow has been a popular community event for more than a decade, with 15,000 people or more attending each year, said a staff report to council.
The airshow has historically been produced through a cost-sharing partnership between the city and Alpha Aviation. Both parties make significant financial contributions toward the event in order for it to remain a free and accessible family event, the report notes.
This year, Alpha Aviation has requested additional financial support to offset increasing production costs. In subsequent conversations, they have confirmed a 2023 net cash request of up to $100,000, increased from $35,000 in 2022, and consistent with the cash contribution provided by the city in 2019.
The report explains that Delta's sponsorship campaign raised a total of $110,750 for the 2022 airshow, plus approximately $27,000 of in-kind services from private organizations, all of which were provided to Alpha Aviation to offset costs.
Alpha Aviation reports that the net out-of-pocket 2022 event costs it incurred totalled $167,000.
For 2023, an additional cash contribution of up to $65,000 and increased shuttle service estimated to cost an extra $20,000 for bigger buses is requested by Alpha.
Delta's proposed total cash contribution would be 50 per cent of the net out-of-pocket costs of the 2023 airshow, up to a maximum of $100,000.
The City of Delta and Alpha Aviation will also develop a traffic management and parking plan to better manage the on-site and off-site parking facilities and address the anticipated traffic for the event.
Alpha Aviation will manage on-site parking at the airport and proposes to charge a $20-to-$25 on-site vehicle parking fee to encourage attendees to find alternative parking and sustainable transportation. That is up from $10 charged in 2022.
