Fox Creek is about to lose its airport

 

By Laura Bohnert

It was built out of a ghost town—pieced together amongst residences that were brought over from the remains of Windfall, Alberta—and now Fox Creek’s airport may be going the way of the ghosts, too.

A final public discussion was held on January 23 to discuss the closure of the Fox Creek airport, but despite efforts to keep the public airport in operation, the costs of the endeavor are presenting too high a barrier.

The airport is owned and operated by the Town of Fox Creek, and that means all of the funding for the maintenance and repair of the airport needs to come from the Town—and the taxpayers who support it.

It has been estimated that the costs to repair the Fox Creek airport will run between $5 and $10 million, a number that is too high for officials to take into consideration—even with the potential for there to be partnerships with local industries.

“We’ve looked at all aspects of partnerships,” Fox Creek mayor Jim Ahn tells XM105 FM News, “and there is just no way to keep an airport open when it costs that much.”

“With the economy being down right now, the oil companies are willing to help, but it’s not substantial enough,” continues Ahn, adding that the remaining millions of dollars that would still be required would fall to the taxpayers.

At this point, Ahn describes, all of the options for keeping the airport open have been explored, and they all lead to taxpayers carrying the extra weight of the financial burden.

“I was told it would require millions of dollars from the taxpayers,” Ahn states. “I don’t think it’s fair.”

And the airport is only putting more pressure on Town finances the longer it stays in operation, which means the airport may not have much time left—and that may carry serious implications for emergency services like STARS Air Ambulance.

STARS is a non-profit emergency service that provides ground ambulances, airplane ambulances, and helicopter ambulances to those suffering from illnesses or accidents in remote locations, cutting down significantly on the emergency response time it takes to get individuals to the hospital where they can receive life-saving procedures.

Up until now, STARS has been operating through the Fox Creek Airport. They were on sight during the final public discussion to address concern over the impacts of the airport’s closure on their ability to operate.

However, the decision to close the airport wasn’t formed without first taking STARS’ ability to serve the area into account. Construction of a heli-pad has been proposed for the healthcare centre, an addition that will enable the Air Ambulance to continue operating within town.

For further updates on the status of the Fox Creek airport, visit the Town of Fox Creek’s web page at www.foxcreek.ca.