When will they fix YK Airport security? How about the parking gate?

Negotiations have begun to give Yellowknife’s airport better security screening, and they’re also trying to fix the notoriously finicky parking gate.

Those issues were the subject of opening questions from regular MLAs at a briefing provided by airport officials on Thursday.

In recent months, passengers have complained that the security line at Yellowknife Airport can take an hour or more to clear. One resident called it “a gong show.”

Regional airport manager Randy Straker conceded on Thursday that the airport is facing “some challenges” accommodating everyone who needs to clear security.

“This year, we were getting close to 500,000 passengers. Next year, we’re estimating we’re probably going to be closer to 600,000 passengers, because we’re continuing to see strong growth,” Straker told a committee of MLAs, attempting to explain why the line is getting worse.

Straker said the airport has “started a dialogue” with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, known as Catsa, to see what can be done.

The security area is controlled by Catsa, which is a Crown corporation, and not by airport officials or the GNWT.

The medium-term ambition is to create two security lines instead of one, Straker said, but that requires a building expansion and isn’t an immediate solution.

Instead, he said, Yellowknife Airport wants to move to Catsa Plus. While it sounds like premium-brand pet food, Catsa Plus in fact upgrades the existing security line so it can operate more efficiently.

On its website, Catsa says Catsa Plus allows more passengers to place their belongings on the belt for screening at the same time, and lets passengers who already know the drill get through more quickly. The X-ray belt flows faster and the screener watching those X-rays can do the job from elsewhere, rather than having to be seated by the machine. At the end, there’s an “expanded repack zone.”

At the moment, Yellowknife Airport estimates about 100 passengers an hour are getting through security. Straker said Catsa Plus could increase that to 200 or even 300 passengers per hour.

The project needs to be funded and needs approval from Catsa headquarters, Straker said, which means there’s no firm timeline for the upgrade to be in place.

“It has worked its way up through Catsa already, so it is a known item and concern,” he said.

Up in arms

The security lineup question came from Great Slave MLA Kate Reid. Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart followed it, slightly sheepishly, with a more personal query.

“My only question – and this seems frivolous given our remit, holding government to account for policy – is the parking arm,” said Testart, to laughter from the room.

“No, I’m serious. The last time I had to use it, it wouldn’t read my ticket. Two security people had to come and a queue of cars formed behind me,” he added.

“This is consistent that this arm does not work. So what’s the plan for that?”

The airport’s main parking lot has barriers, or arms, that control entry and exit. The exit barrier, in particular, can be hard to activate. You need to hold a paper ticket in front of a scanner to get the arm to lift. However, for large portions of the day the scanner directly faces the sun, which seems to compromise its scanning ability.

“The positioning of the ticket reader in a south-facing direction created some havoc,” Straker acknowledged.

He said there had been recent improvements and the airport was working with the company that sold the system, but he added: “Are we happy with where we are today? No.”

Straker noted that the parking lot is earning the airport a sizeable chunk of revenue since charges began applying again in 2022. (Fees had been scrapped during the pandemic because barely anyone was flying, so the parking lot was mostly surplus to requirements.)

“I think we’re generating on our two parking lots close to a quarter of a million dollars now, so it’s a huge contributor … which then is a huge benefit to carriers, because we’re not passing on a lot of those operations and maintenance costs. We’re recovering it through things such as the parking system,” he said.

Airport hotel concept still alive

Officials said the airport is finalizing a strategic plan known as its gateway strategy, which sets out a longer-term vision for how it needs to grow.

That plan is being devised with the help of Tom Ruth, former chief executive officer of Edmonton International Airport, alongside specialist aviation consultants InterVistas.

Sam Shannon, an assistant deputy minister at the Department of Infrastructure, said areas identified for improvement in the coming years include the check-in area, the airport’s washrooms and its baggage claim areas.

Eventually, the airport wants to create a new terminal building. For several years, officials have been consulting on whether to build something near to the existing terminal, or to use the largely undeveloped western side of the runway – in the Engle Business District – for a new facility.

No firm decision has been made about where a future terminal will go.

Asked by Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan if the airport still wants a hotel of its own – an idea some city businesses and politicians had opposed, on the grounds that it would take investment away from the downtown core – Peter Vician, who chairs an economic advisory committee contributing to the strategic plan, said that is still a possibility.

“I know it did cause a great deal of controversy,” said Vician of the airport hotel idea.

“It’s one of those things that we’ve heard from different economic groups that said this is worthy of consideration.”

The Department of Infrastructure’s deputy minister, Steve Loutitt, said things were at a “fairly early” stage but an airport hotel on the western side of the runway could mean extending piped water and sewer service to the Engle Business District, which the City of Yellowknife might see as a major benefit.

“That would be something we would want to do in partnership, but we’re just not there yet,” Loutitt said.

Vician said the gateway strategy was likely to be fully drafted and “ready for consideration” by the end of the calendar year.