THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay International Airport is studying a proposal by Transport Canada to require the country's busiest airports to extend their runway end safety areas to better align with international standards.
Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau has proposed an amendment to the Canadian Aviation Regulations which would lengthen the safety area to a minimum of 150 meters in order to provide extra room for aircraft to stop safely in case of an emergency.
The current mandatory safety area is 60 meters long.
The change would apply to the 28 airports that meet a threshold of at least 325,000 passengers annually.
Thunder Bay Airport handled about 870,000 passengers in 2018.
International aviation standards define the runway safety area as "the surface surrounding the runway, prepared or suitable for reducing the risk of damage to airplanes in the event of an undershoot, overshoot, or excursion from the runway."
There is no hard deadline to adopt the new regulation as yet, as the government is inviting feedback from the air industry.
However, Garneau's announcement stated that airports would have two years to comply.
The minister also said airport operators would have the alternative option of taking measures to help slow down an aircraft at the end of the runway.
"The proposed measures also include other means of compliance for airports where land is not available. Airport operators would have the option to adjust a runway's distances or install a system that would help slow down an aircraft at the end of the runway," a press release stated.
Thunder Bay Airport CEO Ed Schmidtke said he and his staff will review the implications and consult with airlines before deciding how to proceed.
"We're going to do a look into the future on the most likely aircraft, get some cost estimates done, and install whatever the right fit for Thunder Bay is," Schmidtke told Tbnewswatch.
The plan, he said, might still be tweaked by Transport Canada.
"It might get longer, it might get shorter. Once it gets carved in stone we're going to start doing some work with engineers and planners and come up with the right fit."
Asked about the potential challenge for airports to add 150 metres to their runway safety areas, Schmidtke said it depends on the terrain.
"On some thresholds it's going to be more work than others. Don't be picturing concrete. It is a reinforced [hard-packed] surface so that if the aircraft runs off the runway, it doesn't sink," he explained.
Schmidtke said airport officials still have to evaluate how much room they have at the end of the runway to work with.
Thunder Bay Airport's longer runway is currently 7,318 feet.
Its other runway is 5,297 feet long.
