Main runway at St. John's airport closing next week for upgrades
Expect more delays this summer due to weather restrictions at secondary airfield
Major work on the main runway at St. John's International Airport starts next week, and construction could mean delays for travellers.
The runway will be shut down to allow workers to install new technology that's meant to cut back on delays, with work scheduled through to the fall.
Planes will have to land on the secondary runway, but high winds in that area could be a problem.
Once the new equipment is installed, Collins said there will be a higher capacity for the number of flights able to land in St. John's.
"While we expect that there will be some impact on flights this year, we're not quite sure how many," said Collins.
"What we do know with certainty is that when this project is finished, every year from here on in there will be 700 flights and 70,000 passengers who will not be affected by delays, diversions and cancellations as a result of weather."
Short-term pain, long-term gain
Collins said while travellers will be dealing with more impacted flights this year than normal, it will be worth it in the long run.
It's some short-term pain and some short-term inconvenience for substantial long-term gain for decades to come.- Keith Collins, St. John's Airport Authority
"It's never convenient to close the main runway, but the improvements that we are effecting this year will be transformative for our city and for our province," he said. "It's some short-term pain and some short-term inconvenience for substantial long-term gain for decades to come."
The airport was designed to accommodate 900,000 travellers per year but in 2014, 1.6 million people passed through the terminal — and that number is expected to climb.
"We'll expand our passenger facilities to accommodate the two million passengers we expect by the year 2020," said Collins.
"And we'll increase our airfield's accessibility to 99 per cent. That will put us on par with the other major airports in the country."
According to Collins, the airfield in St. John's currently has an annual accessibility of 93.8 per cent, but drops to around 90 per cent in the spring when the weather is at its foggiest.
The airport authority is asking travellers to give themselves more time to accommodate for delays and cancellations this summer, and said it will do what it can to keep travellers in the loop about changes.