Lethbridge City Council giving the all clear Monday (Feb. 24) for airport renovations at YQL.
Updates will include an expansion to the current boarding area to accommodate new washrooms and an upgrade to the existing washrooms.
Mayor Chris Spearman says it’s important to improve the passenger experience at the local airport. “The airport has been run well operationally. What we need to do is ensure passengers and the airlines that we are continuing to invest in our airport to support both. We have seen airlines make decisions to curtail service to some cities and we want to make sure services are maintained in Lethbridge”.
Spearman says passenger traffic has been continuing to rise for the past 18 months and Council wants to build on that momentum.
The City notes a number of economic opportunities were identified along with renovation recommendations as part of a recently report from consultants, Modalis Infrastructure Partners. Key amongst those findings was improving the passenger experience.
The original plan was to approve roughly $13.8 million for the work, however Councillors decided instead to scale that back for now because of provincial cutbacks. Roughly $7.5 million in renovations, approved unanimously, as well as water service upgrades are scheduled to start this summer.