West Wind Aviation (Saskatoon) has backed the Fond du Lac, SK Denesuline First Nation settlement in its calls for a longer and wider runway, amid a funding dispute with the provincial government, the Saskatoon daily newspaper StarPhoenix has reported.
Michael Rodyniuk, chief executive of the company, which also operates the subsidiaries Express Air (Canada) (Saskatoon) and Transwest Air (Prince Albert), said that while West Wind remained committed to serving Fond du Lac and the isolated community on the north shore of Lake Athabasca, its 1,160-metre-long 10/28 treated gravel runway would benefit from being longer as well as paved.
The runway's gravel base is currently topped with five centimetres of weather-resistant sealant, as at the time of its construction asphalt was not an option, he explained. However, earlier this summer, West Wind implemented gravel weight limits, following a risk assessment and discussions with aviation regulator Transport Canada. Previously, it used the same limits for gravel and paved runways.
The airport is currently used by just one airline, West Wind's Transwest Air, which connects it with Stony Rapids (6x weekly), Prince Albert (3x weekly), and La Ronge (2x weekly). Although the runway can accommodate ATR42s, which Transwest has operated there in the past, the carrier is currently using far smaller DHC-6s, Rodyniuk said.
Rodyniuk’s comments were made one week after Louie Mercredi, chief of the Fond du Lac Dene Nation, said that the runway was too short. He added that this may have been partly to blame for the crash of a West Wind ATR42 on December 13, 2017, shortly after takeoff, which killed one passenger.
Transport Canada suspended West Wind's Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) two weeks later, and reinstated it on May 8, 2018, but an investigation into the cause of the crash is still ongoing, according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (safety investigation A17C0146).
Mercredi urged the province to change its position and add the airport improvement project to its list of priorities under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). The chief argued that the fly-in community was running low on supplies and food as a result of the airport's deficiencies, according to CBC/Radio-Canada.
The federal government said in February that it would provide CAD12 million (USD9 million) to upgrade the airport, but Mercredi has commented that an additional CAD30 to 35 million (USD22.6 to 26.4 million) is needed to complete the project.
