{"id":953482,"date":"2026-10-31T19:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T19:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/953482\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T19:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T19:14:27","slug":"cambridge-bays-runway-to-be-paved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/953482\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambridge Bay\u2019s runway to be paved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Department of National Defence committing $3.5M to design and planning phase, says Nunavut transportation minister<\/p>\n

Cambridge Bay\u2019s gravel airport runway is one step closer to being paved, says Nunavut\u2019s transportation minister.<\/p>\n

Almost $3.5 million towards planning and design of the project will come from the Department of National Defence\u2019s capital assistance program, George Hickes told Nunatsiaq News Friday in an interview.<\/p>\n

The update comes after Cambridge Bay MLA Fred Pedersen pressed Hickes in the legislative assembly Monday during question period about the state of his community\u2019s runway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obvious the efficiencies that would be achieved through paving,\u201d Hickes said to Pedersen in response.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pedersen had asked if the minister agreed with comments made by Buffalo Airways general manager Mikey McBryan, who called on the federal government in September to pave the runway. McBryan made the comments at a House of Commons Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee meeting in Ottawa on Sept. 24.<\/p>\n

The design is expected to be complete by fall 2027, Hickes said in an interview Friday.<\/p>\n

As for the paving itself \u2014 \u201cthe sooner the better after that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Cambridge Bay\u2019s airport is located three kilometres southwest of the hamlet. Its gravel runway is a little more than 5,000 feet long and 150 feet wide.<\/p>\n

The gravel limits the size of aircraft that can land in the community.<\/p>\n

The airport can accomodate Buffalo Air\u2019s Lockheed Electra and 737-200 aircraft, which burn about 20 per cent more fuel and haul about 10,000 pounds less that the airline\u2019s Boeing 737-300 twin engine jetliner.<\/p>\n

But a 737-300 needs to land on a paved runway, McBryan, with Buffalo Air, told federal leaders in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaving the runway in Cambridge Bay would instantaneously bring the cost of living down the next day,\u201d McBryan said to Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, who had asked if paving the territory\u2019s runways could help keep dollars inside the territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care if it\u2019s military funding, if it\u2019s private funding or if it\u2019s government funding: Pave it. It\u2019ll make everything better,\u201d McBryan said during the committee meeting.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The federal government announced<\/a> in March a $2.7-billion plan<\/a> to expand the military\u2019s presence in the Arctic, with upgrades to support military in five Arctic communities, including Cambridge Bay.<\/p>\n

The paving project is part of the preparation for Cambridge Bay\u2019s bigger role in the country\u2019s defence network, Hickes said.<\/p>\n

Pedersen said he\u2019s \u201cexcited\u201d to hear about the funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll airlines will save money and I\u2019m hoping that even passenger airfares will go down,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a paved runway and hopefully better airfield lighting and instrument landing systems will help in inclement weather getting things to land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Nunatsiaq News asked the Department of National Defence for a comment on the runway paving but did not receive a response Friday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Department of National Defence committing $3.5M to design and planning phase, says Nunavut transportation minister Cambridge Bay\u2019s gravel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":953483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-953482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953482","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=953482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}