New Navigation Proposal To Increase Safety and Weather Reliability for Landings at West Kootenay Regional Airport
By City of Castlegar
Mayor Chernoff, City Council and representatives from the Regional Districts of Central Kootenay and Kootenay-Boundary and local business representatives met today to consider a new proposal to improve the regional airport’s landing and departure navigation system. Mayor Chernoff said “We are very excited to hear Jeppesen Aviation – one of the largest aeronautical navigation systems companies in the world – state that navigation advances could be successfully applied to increase the safety and landing reliability at the West Kootenay Regional Airport in all weather conditions.”
Mayor Chernoff noted that “It is critical for the region’s economic growth, that we continue to improve the West Kootenay Regional Airport because it is central to the region. That is why we are excited to hear today’s proposal from senior Jeppesen Aviation representatives. Jeppesen Aviation has solved many navigation/landing issues in the world’s most challenged airports and they are confident we can improve our airport’s ability to operate when the weather becomes challenging in the winter.” The Jeppesen Aviation proposal will be formalized and brought before City Council in the near future.
The proposal will be Phase 1 of a three phase project. Phase 1 will be for Jeppesen Aviation to analyze and calculate a new computerized approach that links to geo-spatial satellites. Phase Two will be to meet with the national airlines to discuss their needs for implementation. Phase Three will be to meet with federal air regulators to implement the system designed by Jeppesen Aviation.
City staff are currently working with Jeppesen Aviation and will be meeting with the two national airlines in the next month to discuss future improvements in airline service for the West Kootenay Region.
