EDMONTON - The province has chosen Villeneuve as the local alternate medevac landing site once the City Centre Airport closes, Edmonton Airports president Reg Milley said Wednesday.
The provincial government spent years studying how to handle medical flights after the city shuts the downtown airport — where many now land — for a massive housing and commercial development.
Medevac flights will start using a new Edmonton International Airport facility around February, and Finance Minister Doug Horner indicated Villeneuve would be the bad-weather alternative about a month ago, Milley said.
“What it does mean for us is … we have to extend the runway and install instrument landings.”
Relocating the medevac service was one of the main operational issues that needed to be resolved before the remaining City Centre runway can be taken out of service.
There’s no timetable for when city council will vote on this move.
The city hopes to start construction in 2014 on parts of the 217-hectare site, although the Edmonton Flying Club and other tenants have filed lawsuits to keep the airport operating.
Horner talked last winter about using the Edmonton Garrison runway at Namao for medical flights.
But it wasn’t available and Villeneuve, about 15 kilometres west of St. Albert, made the most sense, said Bart Johnson, a spokesman for Health Minister Fred Horne.
“They took into account proximity to hospitals, available infrastructure … and the ability to upgrade the infrastructure,” Johnson said.
“As an alternative site, it would be used only when the International airport is not able to accept flights. It would be a rare circumstance. We need to have it there in that rare circumstance.”
The medevac facility at the International is next to the STARS air ambulance hangar.
While most medevacs involve planned procedures, emergency patients will be able to reach hospital in a STARS helicopter if necessary, Johnson said.
“It’s the best option that we have … We’re doing everything we can to provide as good a service as possible.”
Work on the instrument landing system and lengthening the runway about 350 metres should start this spring and take several months to complete, Milley said.
He expects the improvements will cost $5 million to $6 million. The airport authority will discuss with the province how this will be paid.
The alternative landing site is mainly important for flights originating in the far north that don’t normally carry sufficient fuel to reach Calgary, Milley said.
“When you file an alternative flight plan, you have to have enough fuel to get there plus 45 minutes.”
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