It is perhaps a silver lining from the wildfires that impacted the North Cariboo this summer.
Jeff Norburn, the Manager of Community Services, says there was some additional revenue generated from having the base set up at the Quesnel Airport…
“In 2016 we generated just over 13 thousand dollars worth of revenue in landing fees and so far this year we’re up over 63 thousand dollars. So we’re up over 50 thousand dollars a year in landing fees that we would see in a typical year, and that’s clearly the result of the extra activity at the airport.”
Norburn says fuel sales are also up this year to more than 320 thousand dollars, compared to about 270 last year.
He says that extra revenue will remain in the airport fund within the city budget.
Norburn is quick to point out however that despite the increase in revenue, the most important thing from the city’s perspective was that the airport served as vital infrastructure to combat the wildfire situation.