City of Trail buys airport for $1.28 million, will hire airport manager

by Keith Powell — January 28, 2014

— Photo courtesy Pacific Coastal Airlines.

Trail City Council recently announced that the City of Trail will be proceeding with the purchase of the Trail Regional Airport (YZZ) from the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB).

Based on a plan compiled by InterVISTAS Consulting Inc., a leading aviation management consulting company from Vancouver, indicates the City of Trail will be able to effectively operate the airport strip on a breakeven basis without directly impacting the local taxpayers.

Trail also had an airport lands and associated infrastructure appraisal completed; therefore the City will pay the RDKB $1.28 million in two payments in 2014.

Richmond-based Pacific Coastal Airlines regularly flies scheduled daily flights in and out of YZZ.

“We are pleased the acquisition is progressing,” said Mayor Dieter Bogs. “The Trail Airport is a critical economic driver that will contribute to the long-range sustainability of our region. Thousands of people travel via Trail for medical, business and personal trips; in order to sustain and hopefully increase this level of travel and number of passengers, it’s imperative we invest to make the necessary facility and operational improvements and build on the airport’s competitive advantages. Council believes the City of Trail can take the lead and facilitate improvements expeditiously as the sole owner and operator of the facility.”

These airport negotiations between the City and the RDKB have been ongoing since early 2013, and after several months of more intense discussions, the RDKB also felt this was an excellent opportunity for the West Kootenay region. “The Board of Directors are pleased that we are able to conclude the sale of the Trail Airport to the City of Trail in a cooperative and mutually beneficial manner,” said Grace McGregor, Chair of the RDKB.

The next phase in the airport acquisition is to proceed with a transitional plan in conjunction with the RDKB over the next six months; the first critical step of this phase would be hiring an airport manager.