The Yorkton Municipal Airport has become something of a quandary for local politicians.
There are a few widely held views of the airport which pretty well detail the situation.
Most people -- whether sitting on Yorkton Council, business people in the city, or just average residents -- agree the airport is an important asset to the community.
Whether we recognize the importance of the facility in terms of emergency air ambulance service, the daily arrival of critical parts and supplies for various business needs, or we hold out the hope of the return of scheduled passenger service, the airport is a required element for those services to exist.
And that brings us to a second widely understood aspect of the airport situation, and that is that the facility needs major infrastructure upgrades.
There were initial needs to improve lighting and other safety factors, and that has been largely addressed the last couple of years through the investment of the provincial Community Airport Partnership grant, and the matching City dollars.
However, lighting is only the tip of a rather large and very costly infrastructure needs iceberg.
There are needs which while they may be tagged as longer term ones, are actually needed yesterday to bring the airport up to a near modern facility. That work includes the desperate need for a terminal building with current day amenities and some stature to greet visitors, rather than a still functional building left over from the Second World War era.
A second paved runway is also in the plans, an addition to the airport that would no doubt be an asset if, and when regular passenger service is required.
The question is who pays for such upgrades.
As it is today CAP is the only non-City money accessible for work at the airport. That entire fund is $700,000 annually for airports across Saskatchewan. When you consider a terminal building, or paved runway would each cost that and the matching municipal dollars it's easy to see dollars are in short supply.
The federal government divested itself of the airport a number of years ago, and unless there is regular passenger service they are not interested in supporting airports. Apparently access to medical evacuation and access to freight are not deemed important federally.
How the Yorkton Airport Authority manages accessing upgrade funding will be critical to the future of the airport.
