Boundary Bay Airport in East Delta is getting a boost from the province.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure on Thursday announced funding for several local airports for infrastructure improvements including upgrading taxi lanes, new airside paving and green building projects.
It’s part of B.C.'s COVID-19 economic recovery plan and the B.C. Air Access Program grant program.
More than $9 million is being provided province-wide with five airports on the south coast sharing $3.4 million in funding for upgrades including Boundary Bay Airport, which will receive just over $580,000.
With severe impacts on travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the province partnered with 27 regional airports and the federal government to develop a coordinated approach to support the sector, the ministry explains.
"We know the pandemic has caused financial stress for many industries and significantly impacted our aviation sector throughout B.C., including our community airports," said Minister Rob Fleming. "But we're also looking to better days ahead, post-pandemic. That's why we're taking action to support communities with important infrastructure upgrades so we can boost jobs, tourism and trade that will give us a head start with B.C.'s economic recovery."
The B.C. Air Access Program, now in its seventh year, is a cost-share program that provides funding to assist communities with improvements to their airport infrastructure that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to achieve, the ministry notes.
Meanwhile, the City of Delta, which owns the airport and leases it to Alpha Aviation, is continuing road projects around the airport including extending Ottawa Street.
In 2018, the street was extended east from Athabaska Street. Alpha Way was also constructed to allow access for airside development of a new hangar.
A recent report to council notes that, as a next step, Delta has been working to further extend Ottawa Street to the Churchill Street Connector/Fire Hall No.4 traffic circle.
The Ottawa Street extension will improve access to airside developments to the south of the road and non-airside developments to the north of the road, the report explains.
The project is included in the airport's engineering servicing plan, which was designed to provide for more efficient and coordinated servicing of new airport developments.
