{"id":872825,"date":"2026-08-27T02:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T02:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/872825\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T02:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T02:44:14","slug":"feds-invest-23-5m-across-6-b-c-airports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/872825\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds invest $23.5M across 6 B.C. airports"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 2 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Six airports in B.C. are getting an influx of funding from the federal government to improve aging infrastructure.<\/p>\n

“Local and regional airports are lifelines for many communities across British Columbia,” said Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon in a news release.<\/p>\n

“These investments will help maintain safe and efficient airport operations, improve the movement of people and goods, and strengthen the transportation links that connect British Columbians to jobs, services, and the rest of the country.”<\/p>\n

Four airports in B.C.’s North are getting funding. <\/p>\n

\"AnAn interior area is seen at the Prince Rupert, B.C., airport on Wednesday. The airport is among four in northern B.C. that are getting upgrades. (Sumi Ragu\/CBC)<\/p>\n

On the North Coast in Haida Gwaii, Masset Airport will get more than $10.85 million to improve airfield pavement and drainage.<\/p>\n

Prince Rupert Airport is getting almost $3.76 million to rehabilitate airfield lighting; Fort Nelson’s Northern Rockies Regional Airport will get $552,600 to replace runway approach lighting; and Smithers Airport will get about $3.62 million to rehabilitate airfield electrical equipment.<\/p>\n

Bella Coola Airport on the Central Coast will get almost $3.4 million to rehabilitate the runway, taxiway and apron.<\/p>\n

In the Interior, Kamloops Airport will get almost $1.35 million to upgrade and replace electrical infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The money comes from Transport Canada’s Airports Capital Assistance Program.<\/p>\n

Regional airports provide vital services: advocate<\/p>\n

James Lindsey, chair of the Regional Community Airports of Canada, said regional airports play a significant role in supporting the Canadian economy.<\/p>\n

“Regional airports provide vital services to the communities that they serve \u2014 whether it be health care, whether it be economic development, whether it be natural resource exploration, or whether it be tourism or general aviation,” said Lindsey, who is also president and CEO of the Thompson Regional Airport Authority, which operates the Thompson Airport in Manitoba.<\/p>\n

He noted that regional airports help workers get to job sites and patients to medical centres, and also support various industries, such as tourism and fishing.<\/p>\n

“The challenge is that regional airports just don’t have the financing available to be sustainable financially,” he said. <\/p>\n

Costs for maintaining modern equipment have become “astronomically high,” Lindsey added.<\/p>\n

“This funding and these pieces of infrastructure are absolutely critical to maintaining sustainable communities across Canada.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-872825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}