The Grand Forks economic development committee is looking for ways to make the municipal airport a busier place.
Mayor Brian Taylor, who also is chair of the economic development committee, said that the committee looked at recommendations for the airport, more of a management structure to the airport and more marketing.
“There are a number of things there that have been recommended,” Taylor said. “We’ve been following up on some of them already.”
One of those things is the possibility of having the facility take part in Selkirk College’s pilot training program.
“We met with Selkirk College to see what role we might play in private training,” Taylor said.
He said that the college needs to train its pilots in heavy traffic areas.
“The role that we might play here is part of the touch-and-go program that they have where they fly around to various airports,” he said.
“There is some opportunity here to be a backup airport to the Castlegar and Trail airports that do very poorly in certain weather conditions. We could probably offer a back-up service here in Grand Forks.”
Taylor said those airports have a bad track record for getting flights in under certain circumstances and weather conditions, such as fog.
The economic development is a regional initiative that works with areas C, D and E to promote the Boundary.
Taylor said the concept here is that they do certain things to promote Grand Forks and its economy, but their major efforts and money go into a regional development program.