West Jet to land in Fairmont?

New GPS and all-weather equipment is designed to allow pilots to land even when the cloud cover is as low as 345 feet.

According to a recent report in the Columbia Valley Pioneer newspaper, a substantial upgrade to the navigation equipment at the Fairmont Hot Springs airport, located at the south end of the Columbia Valley, now allows the airport to rival the Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook.

The new GPS and all-weather equipment is designed to allow pilots to land even when the cloud cover is as low as 345 feet which is only 100 feet higher than the allowable limit in Cranbrook.

“It will make a lot of difference for our medivac services here in the valley,” Shawn Jestley, the Fairmont Hot Spring airport manager told the newspaper.

He added, “It’s been a long process. With this new equipment…this gives us an opportunity to revisit the possibility of carriers such as West Jet or North Cariboo Air coming here.”

Source: Columbia Valley Pioneer