The Whitecourt Airport, like many regional Alberta airports, is funded by the rural municipality of Woodlands County. Since their scheduled service stopped in October 2018, and they are ineligible to receive ACAP funding.
Money to R maintain
egional, municipal-owned airports in Alberta continue to struggle with funding. The province of Alberta is currently home to over 150 airports,
including local airstrips, community airports, regional airports, and international airports. Unlike the province’s two major airports in Calgary and Edmonton, many of these facilities don’t receive regular
Lack of funding for municipal-owned Alberta airports
funding by the provincial and federal governments to operate, making it difficult to often run and maintain these facilities. Transport Canada does offer the Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP), which has been funding improvement projects for regional airports since 1995. The program, to date, has invested more than $785.9 million for 904 projects at 182 airports, however, those airports
By Shayna Wiwierski
must be able to provide scheduled and charter air services that link communities to regional, national, and international markets for goods and services. “So long as you have a scheduled service and are moving more than 1,000 passengers a year, you can apply to Transport Canada for ACAP funding,” says James Ogilvie, airport manager at the Whitecourt Airport. “Unfortunately our scheduled service stopped in October 2018, and we are ineligible to receive ACAP funding. It’s a very small pot of money [ACAP] and a very large amount of subscription for funding.” The Whitecourt Airport, located in Woodlands County, mainly serves
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Alberta Airports Management Association • 2020
